Rajkot: In a show of grit and determination, East zone skipper Sourav Ganguly fought back in the Duleep Trophy tie against the North zone with an entertaining century.
His knock helped the team reach a respectable totalof 235 for five at lunch.
North zone bowlers claimed the lone wicket of Laxmi Ratan Shukla during the morning session.
The Bengal all-rounder made 31 runs before he fell to Amit Mishra's bowling caught by rival captain Dinesh Mongia.
Before departing, he and Ganguly added 125 runs for the fifth wicket and took control over the game.
At lunch, Ganguly was unbeaten at 109, which included 17 boundaries and a towering six.
He reached his century in 189 minutes from 117 balls. Deep Dasgupta was batting on 24.
North Zone had made 178 runs in their first innings on Thursday.
This knock is very vital for Ganguly as he can now stake a claim in the Indian cricket team.
His career has been going through a lean phase for a very long time and this had created an unpleasant situation during the recent tour of Zimbabwe.
Coach Greg Chappell had suggested that Ganguly, then the captain of the team, step down and make way for younger players.
Ganguly had leaked this dressing room talk to the media which led to a standoff between the coach and the captain, with Chappell accusing Ganguly of being selfish and loosing the faith of the team members.
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