West Zone batters built on the good work done by their bowlers on the second day against Central Zone as the defending champion took control of the Duleep Trophy semifinal at the Alur (I) Cricket Ground in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Suryakumar Yadav and Cheteshwar Pujara scored half-centuries as a free-stroking West ended with a 241-run lead after it had bundled out Central for 128, with Arzan Nagwaswalla claiming a five-wicket haul.
After earning a 92-run first-innings lead, West started strongly with Prithvi Shaw striking some nonchalant boundaries.
But Central struck back by removing Shaw and his opening partner Priyank Panchal in quick succession, bringing Pujara and Suryakumar together.
The duo eased their way into the game with some classy shot-making. Even the usually restrained Pujara unleashed a few, including a masterful cut shot off Yash Thakur. Suryakumar raced to his fifty before falling to the wily left-arm spin of Saurabh Kumar.
Pujara soon got to his fifty as he and Sarfaraz Khan saw out the rest of the day untroubled.
Central skipper Shivam Mavi began the day at full throttle as he wrapped up West’s first innings quickly, with two quick wickets to complete his six-wicket haul.
Nagwaswalla began Central’s slide in the first over as he swung the ball in to rearrange Vivek Singh’s stumps.
From the other end, Chintan Gaja kept the pressure on as he dismissed Himanshu Mantri and Amandeep Khare to reduce Central to 26/3.
Meanwhile, Dhruv Jurel, who came in at No. 3, batted fluently, cracking some silky boundaries. He took on Nagwaswalla, scoring five boundaries against the left-arm pacer. But the West bowler had his revenge as he trapped Jurel in front.
Rinku Singh kept the fight going for his side as West all-rounder Atit Sheth ran through the lower order. The left-handed batter was the last to fall after attempting to slog Nagwaswalla over deep mid-wicket.
The scores:
West Zone — 1st innings: Prithvi Shaw c Jurel b Saurabh 26, Priyank Panchal lbw b Yash 13, Cheteshwar Pujara c Khare b Mavi 28, Suryakumar Yadav c Jurel b Mavi 7, Sarfaraz Khan b Mavi 0, Het Patel b Avesh 5, Atit Sheth c Jurel b Mavi 74, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja c Khare b Jain 39, Chintan Gaja (not out) 14, Arzan Nagwaswalla b Mavi 6, Yuvarjsinh Dodiya c & b Mavi 0; Extras (lb-5, w-1, nb-2) 8; Total (in 92.5 overs): 220.
Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-43, 3-56, 4-56, 5-65, 6-110, 7-183, 8-203, 9-220.
Central Zone bowling: Mavi 19.5-7-44-6, Avesh 11-4-26-1, Yash 20-5-52-1, Saurabh 27-6-64-1, Saransh 15-6-29-1.
Central — 1st innings: Vivek Singh b Nagwaswalla 2, Himanshu Mantri lbw Gaja 4, Dhruv Jurel lbw Nagwaswalla 46, Amandeep Khare b Gaja 5, Rinku Singh c Shaw b Nagwaswalla 48, Upendra Yadav lbw Nagwaswalla 5, Saransh Jain b Nagwaswalla 3, Saurabh Kumar c Surya b Sheth 12, Shivam Mavi b Sheth 1, Avesh Khan c Shaw b Sheth 0, Yash Thakur (not out) 0; Extras (lb-1) 1; Total (all out in 31.3 overs): 128.
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-6, 3-26, 4-69, 5-81, 6-87, 7-106, 8-114, 9-114.
West bowling: Nagwaswalla 14.3-0-74-5, Gaja 7-1-25-2, Sheth 9-1-27-3, Dodiya 1-0-1-0.
West — 2nd innings: Shaw b Yash 25, Panchal b Saurabh 15, Pujara (batting) 50, Suryakumar c Khare b Saurabh 52, Sarfaraz Khan (batting) 6; Extras (lb-1): 1; Total (for three wkts, in 39 overs): 149.
Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-40, 3-135.
Central bowling: Mavi 6-0-34-0, Avesh 8-1-31-0, Yash 7-1-28-1, Saurabh 9-0-34-2, Saransh 9-2-21-0.
