Stars align to put West in box seat

Alur (Karnataka), July 6

Cheteshwar Pujara looked solid while Suryakumar Yadav played his natural attacking game as their contrasting half-centuries put West Zone in complete control after left-arm medium-pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla’s five-wicket haul floored Central Zone on the second day of their Duleep Trophy semifinal here today.

At stumps, West reached 149/3 in their second essay, extending their overall lead to 241.

Earlier, Shivam Mavi (6/44) wrapped up West’s first innings for 220 as they added just four runs to their overnight score. But Central’s joy turned out to be short-lived as Nagwaswalla took 5/74 in 14.3 overs to decimate Central for 128 in just 31.3 overs.

South vs North

Bengaluru: After their shoddy batting, North Zone’s bowlers produced a gritty effort to bowl out South Zone for 195 to give their team a slight advantage on the second day of their semifinal.

At stumps, North were 51/2 in their second innings for a lead of 54 runs. South had a chance to put up a bigger total on the board but bulked under the pressure.

Brief scores: West Zone: 220 all out in 92.5 overs and 149/3 in 39 overs (Pujara 50*, Suryakumar 52; Mavi 6/44, Saurabh 2/34) vs Central Zone: 128 in 31.3 overs (Rinku 48, Jurel 46; Nagwaswalla 5/74); North Zone: 198 in 58.3 overs & 51/2 in 11 overs (Kalsi 21*, Prabhsimran 6*) vs South Zone: 195 in 54.4 overs (Agarwal 76, Varma 46; Jayant 3/38).