Pujara, Suryakumar put West Zone in front after Nagwaswalla fifer rattles Central

BENGALURU: West Zone batters build on the good work done by its 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.

West batters were considerably more aggressive in the second stint, with Suryakumar Yadav and Cheteshwar Pujara scoring half-centuries as they helped their side to a 241-run lead.

On the bowling front, Arzan Nagwaswalla led the line for West with a five-wicket haul as Central was bundled out for 128. Dhruv Jurel and Rinku Singh were the only Central batters who looked comfortable on a surface that offered uneven bounce.

After earning a 92-run first-innings lead, West began like a house on fire, with opener Prithvi Shaw lighting the match. He crunched boundaries for fun, including two with nonchalant uppercuts.

But Central struck back by removing Shaw and his opening partner Priyank Panchal in quick succession. The former was bowled by Yash Thakur with an inswinger, while the latter had his off stump knocked back after being deceived by a flighted delivery from Saurabh Kumar.

Pujara and Suryakumar eased their way into the game, with the duo freeing their arms to gather some breathtaking boundaries. Even the usually restrained Pujara played his shots, including a masterful cut shot off Yash Thakur which sizzled to the fence.

The duo, who put on a 95-run stand, had their momentum briefly halted by a passing shower. But Suryakumar shrugged off the interruption by carting Avesh Khan for a six over fine leg. The Mumbai batter raced to his fifty with some slick shots before falling to the wily left-arm spin of Saurabh.

Pujara and Sarfaraz Khan saw out the rest of the day untroubled, with the Saurashtra batter getting to his fifty in the last over of the day. Agencies

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