Leading Central Zone in the absence of an injured Dhruv Jurel, Madhya Pradesh’s Rajat Patidar smashed a blazing century on Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy 2025 clash against North East Zone. Patidar walked out to bat after opener Aryan Juyal was retired hurt. He joined forces with Danish Malewar and smashed North East Zone pacers around the park.
At no.4, Patidar scored 125 runs from just 96 balls. He reached his century from just 80 balls. His knock was studded with 21 fours and three sixes. When Patidar departed, Central Zone's score was 347/2. On the other end, Malewar scored his century as well at a good rate but nowhere near Patidar.
Unfortunately, Patidar’s century was not televised or live-streamed. The Duleep Trophy 2025 quarterfinals are not available on any streaming platform or any of the TV channels.
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Patidar’s absence from Test squad
RCB's maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) winning captain, Patidar has been out of the Test side since England's tour of India last year. In the absence of Virat Kohli, Patidar played three Tests. However, he managed to score just 63 runs from six innings at an average of 10.50. His high score in the Test arena is 10.50. Since then, he has fallen down in the pecking order for a spot in middle order for the Test squad.
Why Dhruv Jurel isn’t playing Duleep Trophy 2025 quarterfinal?
Earlier, Jurel was ruled out of the quarter-final clash due to a niggle he picked up on the eve of the clash. He was advised by the selectors to skip the game as he is one of the five standbys for the upcoming T20 Asia Cup 2025.
"Jurel has picked up a groin niggle on the eve of the match and he has been asked to skip this match by the selectors," a BCCI source told TOI.
"He is also in the standbys of the Asia Cup squad and the selectors don't want to take any risk. Right after the Asia Cup, India will be playing four Test matches at home and with uncertainty over (Rishabh) Pant's injury, Jurel has been asked not to take any risk."
Central Zone’s playing XI -
Aayush Pandey, Danish Malewar, Rajat Patidar (c), Aryan Juyal (wk), Yash Rathod, Shubham Sharma, Harsh Dubey, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Aditya Thakare, Khaleel Ahmed.