The opener brought up his fourth first-class hundred in just his sixth innings since debut off 172 balls.

The opener brought up his fourth first-class hundred in just his sixth innings since debut off 172 balls.

The opener brought up his fourth first-class hundred in just his sixth innings since debut off 172 balls.

Kerala opener Rohan Kunnummal smashed a hundred on his Duleep Trophy debut for South Zone against North Zone in the semifinal at Salem on Thursday.

The right-hander brought up his fourth first-class hundred in just his sixth innings since debut off 172 balls. He reached the landmark in style with a huge straight six. 

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The 24-year-old is also the first Keralite to score a ton in the Duleep Trophy. Sreekumar Nair's 95 while playing for Plate Group B against Elite Group B in the 2002-03 season was the previous best.

South Zone ended the opening day on 324/2 with captain Hanuma Vihari (107 batting) and Baba Indrajith (20 batting) at the crease.

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Rohan was clean bowled for 143 by pacer Navdeep Saini with the total on 269. He hit 16 fours and two sixes in his 225-ball knock and added 167 for the second wicket with Vihari.

Rohan and Mayank Agarwal (49) put on 102 for the first wicket after Vihari opted to bat.

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The 24-year-old Rohan has been on a dream run at the first-class level since the last Ranji Trophy. His scores read 107, 129, 106 not out and 75 before today's knock.