Chennai, Oct 6: Shikhar Dhawan’s century put North Zone in a comfortable position when stumps were called at the end of Day 1 of the quarter-final of the Airtel Duleep Trophy 2012. After opting to bat first against West Zone, North Zone finished the day at 251 for three from 89.2 overs.

Dhawan, who was in prolific form in the recently concluded Airtel Challenger Series, made merry yet again as he rode his way to his 13th first-class century. On a batsman-friendly track at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Dhawan and fellow opener Rahul Dewan batted for nearly two sessions before they were separated. They added 164 runs in 57.5 overs when the former was dismissed — stumped by wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel off the bowling of Kamlesh Makvana. Dhawan, the North Zone skipper, made 101 off 179 balls and hit 15 boundaries.

West Zone made use of that opening to pick up another wicket; this time they dismissed the other opener – Dewan, who had made 65 from 187 deliveries.

Sunny Singh, who came in at No.3, then added 76 runs along with Nitin Saini, before being caught behind off the bowling of Samad Fallah on what would turn out to be the last delivery of the day. He made 46.

For West Zone, off-spinner Makvana (2/60) and Harmeet Singh (0/75) bowled forty overs between them, while the seam trio of Fallah (1/39), Murtuza Vahora and Abhishek Nayar bowled a combined 45.2 overs.

Brief scores:

North Zone: 251-3 in 89.2 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 101, Rahul Dewan 65, Kamlesh Makvana 2-60)