An unbeaten 110 run fifth wicket stand involving centurion Tahir Abbas (119) and Rahat Ali (67) aided Central Zone to take the first innings lead over South Zone in their quarter final encounter of the Vijay Hazare Trophy (Under-16) tournament at the Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wodayar Sports Centre in Bangalore on Thursday. South Zone, resuming at 255 for seven, were all out for 279. In reply, Central at stumps were 284 for four wickets.

Central openers Arvind Maan (6) and Shivakanth Shukla (20) failed to give a solid start. I Varun bowled Maan in the fourth over of the innings with the score on 18. Ali Akbar (46) and Shukla carried the score to 54 before Shukla was run out in the 10th over. Then Tahir Abbas forged a 66-run third wicket stand with Ali Akbar off 18.2 overs. After a 108-minute stay at the crease, Ali Akbar was sent back to the pavilion, caught by Srinivasa Rao off S Yadav in the 28th over.

Then A Alam (16) batted sedately for 84 minutes, helping Tahir Abbas to add 54 runs for the fourth wicket off 21.4 overs. Central were still lagging behind by 105 runs when Rahat Ilahi walked in to join Tahir Abbas. In what could be deemed as the decisive partnership of the innings, Rahat and Tahir preferred not to play the waiting game. Rahat in particular was severe on the Central attack, plundering as many as 15 boundaries so far.

Tahir brought up his century shortly before close. He needed 150 balls to get to the mark, while Rahat needed just 44 balls for his half century. Both Rahat and Tahir saw through the day for Central while taking them past South Zone.

Earlier the South Zone innings lasted a further 12 overs, the last three wickets adding just 24 runs. Devendra Singh (4 for 71) and Vijay Yadav (3 for 38) mopped up the tail.

© CricInfo