Priyank Panchal-led West Zone made a comeback after facing a batting collapse on Day 1 of Duleep Trophy 2023 first semi-final. After Arzan Nagwaswalla's fifer helped West Zone bundle out Central Zone for 128, Cheteshwar Pujara and Suryakumar Yadav's fifties helped West Zone take a 241-run lead at KSCA Cricket Ground, Alur.
Starting from an overnight score of 203/8, West Zone could only add 17 runs to the scoreboard. Central Zone skipper struck twice to mop up the tail quickly.
Nagwaswalla shines
In reply, Central Zone lost three wickets early on. Chintan Gaja got the wickets of Himanshu Mantri and Amandeep Khare whereas Vivek Singh got bowled by Nagwaswalla. From 26/3, the partnership between Dhruv Jurel and Rinku Singh helped Central Zone recover. Jurel looked to hit boundaries. The partnership was broken by Nagwaswalla as he trapped him in front of the stumps. He scored 46 runs from 55 balls including seven fours.
Upendra Yadav and Saransh Jain became Nagwaswalla fell's victims as well. Atit Sheth joined the party and got the wickets of Saurabh Kumar, Mavi and Avesh Khan. Rinku kept running out of partners but his 69-ball 48 helped Central Zone cross the 100-run knock and post 128 from 31 overs. Nagwaswalla prevented Rinku from completing his half-century and completed his fifer to help West Zone take a 92-run lead.
Suryakumar, Pujara release pressure
Prithvi Shaw and Panchal started off well. Shaw hit a few boundaries but once again missed the line of the ball and got bowled. Shaw scored 25 runs from 26 balls including five fours. In the next over, Panchal got bowled by Saurabh.
From 40/2, Pujara and Suryakumar build a partnership. Suryakumar batted did not curb his natural instinct to attack. He scored 52 runs from 58 balls including eight fours and one six. Saurabh got the breakthrough with Suryakumar's wicket. The two batters shared a 95-run partnership for the third wicket. Similarly, Pujara played his natural game and remained unbeaten for 50 off 103 balls including five fours. Sarfaraz Khan did not take risks and contributed six runs to the score. West Zone posted 149/3 before stumps with a 241-run lead in the bag.
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