Hyderabad, Oct 14: Yuvraj Singh announced his return to first-class cricket in grand style as his century powered North Zone to a commanding 346 for four at stumps on Day 1 of his team's Airtel Duleep Trophy semi-final clash against Central Zone. When stumps were drawn at the end of the day, Yuvraj – playing his 100th first-class match – had scored 133 off 152 balls, which included 20 boundaries and two sixes. After opting to bat first on a Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium track which has historically been known to be at its best at the start of the match, the North Zone opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rahul Dewan saw off a testing spell from Praveen Kumar to set the platform for the middle order. Yuvraj Singh walked in to bat in the 38th over, after North Zone had lost Opener Rahul Dewan (17) and Nitin Saini (35). The 31-year-old displayed no sluggishness despite playing his first four-day match in more than a year. It appeared he walked out to bat wanting to play a long innings and he certainly accomplished that. He got off the mark with a crisply punched drive through the off-side and followed that up with plenty of pleasing strokes – most of which were punches that raced away along the carpet. While he relied on timing for the majority of his strokes, he also gave glimpses of his power by hitting two huge sixes. His innings overshadowed the performance of his skipper Shikhar Dhawan, who has been in scintillating form this season. The Delhi lad, who has scored at least a half-century every time he has walked out to bat this season, brought up his 14th century in first-class cricket. The 26-year-old started off cautiously, seeing off the danger posed by the new ball, before he would open up to play some elegant strokes (mostly on the off-side). Though he went into a shell when he was in the 70's, he would regain his concentration to reach his third century of the season. He would be dismissed shortly after, when he drove a tossed up delivery straight back to Murali Kartik, who clung on to the low chance. Central Zone struck immediately after when they dismissed Mandeep Singh. Paras Dogra then joined Yuvraj Singh in the middle, and the pair ensured there would be no further damage. The fifth wicket pair had added 71 runs without being troubled too much. Dogra would remain unbeaten on 30 at the end of the day. Praveen Kumar (2-72), Rituraj Singh (1-67) and Kartik were the wicket-takers for Central Zone. The Central Zone bowlers lacked discipline on the day; they bowled on both sides of the wicket and would concede 45 boundaries and two sixes. Central Zone skipper Mohammad Kaif experimented with his field – and even used some very imaginative positioning, but the lack of discipline from his bowlers hurt the team.

Brief Scores: North Zone 1st Innings: 346-4 (Yuvraj Singh 133*, Shikhar Dhawan 121, Praveen Kumar 2-72)