February 6, 2010 – When Yusuf Pathan powered West Zone to a world record run-chase

A full capacity crowd at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium witnessed a nerve cracking ODI match between India and Australia where Sachin Tendulkar’s 175 went in vain as India fell 3-run short of the visiting team’s total of 350. A couple of months after this match, the Hyderabad crowd was denied to witness the Duleep Trophy final on security grounds due to the state division issues. However, the association’s decision to allow the spectators on the last three days of the game made the fans witness a record-breaking act from West Zone powered by a Yusuf Pathan show.

Dinesh Karthik, who captained South Zone, elected to bat first and guided them to 400 with his stroke-filled 183 off 226 balls with help of 26 boundaries. West Zone crumbled in the reply as they were bundled out for only 251, a total that looked tough if not for a Yusuf Pathan’s blitz. The Baroda batsmen hit 11 fours and seven sixes on his way to a 76-ball 108. The home team posted a stiff total once again in their 2nd innings which began on the second day itself. Karthik led his team from the front again with a 162-ball 150 this time that included 22 fours.

The world record run-chase:

South Zone declared their innings on 386/9 to set a 536-run target in front of West Zone in approximately 190 overs. The visiting side got off to a flier with their opener Chirag Pathak scoring a 168-ball 130. He shared a 117-run stand with Harshad Khadiwale and another century stand with their captain Wasim Jaffer. But South Zone returned well to reduce the opposition from 224/1 to 292/5. The man in form, Yusuf Pathan put on a crucial 84-run stand with his younger brother Irfan Pathan as their team ended the day on 379/6 with another 157 runs away from a win.

Yusuf made the most of the chances he got on the field and went berserk over the South Zone’s bowlers. He made the fielding side pay for their sloppy efforts with a restless inning in which he smashed 19 fours and ten sixes. He put on 105 with Pinal Shah for the 7th wicket and an unbeaten 58 for the 8th wicket with Ramesh Powar to hand the trophy to his team. With back to back sixes while batting on 189, Yusuf Pathan raised up his maiden FC double hundred in only 186 balls which is the fastest in the tournament’s history.

With another six in the very next over, Yusuf hit the winning runs to help West Zone set the record for the highest successful run-chase in the first-class history in front of a restricted number of spectators on February 6 in 2010. With this 536-run chase, West Zone broke the existing record of Central Province, a team in Sri Lankan domestic cricket, who chased down 512 against Southern Province in 2003/04 season.

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