Duleep Trophy Quarter-finals: Central Zone, North Zone Dictate Terms On Day 2

Having given ample manifestation of his talent, Harshit Rana on Thursday hoped the performance will give wings to his journey as an all-rounder. The 21-year-old Delhiite cracked his maiden first-class hundred, an unbeaten 86-ball 126, and later picked up a wicket to give North Zone command over North East Zone in the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal. North Zone made a mammoth 540 for 8 declared and then reduced NE Zone to 65 for 3 to take complete control of the match.

"Yes! It is my natural game. I have played the whole Ranji season (2022-23) like that. I keep focus on my game. It is not to say that the match situation does not matter but my game plan is to go for my shots if the ball is in my hitting area. My coaches from the club level have always told me that I can bat," Rana said after the second day's play.

However, Harshit's primary suit remains bowling and he can crank up pace in excess of 140 kmph as he had often shown while playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Harshit said the tutelage of KKR bowling coaches Bharat Arun and Omkar Salvi has benefitted him immensely.

"I have benefitted a lot from the coaching of (Bharat) Arun sir and (Omkar) Salvi sir. They always give me a lot of advice, not just about cricket but about life as well. They treat me as their son.

"Arun sir has helped me a lot to handle the pressure of the IPL. He told me to focus on your strength and bowl freely, back myself and stick to the plans. It has worked well for me in all formats. Their advice on adjusting lengths as per the formats (red ball and white ball) has been very valuable," he said.

Central In Driver's Seat After Taking 124-run Lead

After a shabby batting effort, Central Zone came roaring back into the match bowling out East Zone for 122 in their first innings to enjoy a healthy lead of 124 runs in their Duleep Trophy quarterfinal on Thursday. Central closed the day at 64 for no loss in their second innings. They were bundled out for 182 in their first innings on Wednesday after pacer Murasingh bagged five wickets.

Pacer Avesh Khan and left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar shared six wickets equally among them to hasten the fall of East Zone.

They resumed from the overnight 32 for 2 and were in need of a solid partnership to cover the early losses.

Having already lost captain and prolific opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, East's biggest hope of reaching a healthy total was experienced Anustup Majumdar and Riyan Parag.

Majumdar fell cheaply for 4, while Parag showed glimpses of his skills while making a 46-ball 33. Central captain and pacer Shivam Mavi jettisoned Parag, and it signalled the end of fight for East.

Murasingh played a cameo of 34-ball 30 but that only helped to reduce the lead of Central.

In their second innings, Central gave a much better account of themselves as openers Himanshu Mantri (25) and Vivek Singh (34) stayed till the close on second day to hand their team a definite edge.

Harshit also thanked KKR captain Nitish Rana for recommending him to the IPL franchise, opening the door of bigger opportunities for him.

"Nitish bhai has supported me a lot. If he has not done that then I would not have got this chance to play for KKR. I can say that my career has taken off because of Nitish bhai," said Harshit.

Harshit, who was a net bowler for Gujarat Titans before joining KKR, said his growth has been accentuated by the chance to bowl against top-class batters like Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill etc.

"They are big players and are ready with a plan and reaction even before I bowl. It was a learning experience to bowl at them at GT and KKR nets," he added.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)