Pujara century puts West Zone in driver’s seat; Vyshak takes five to skittle North

West Zone 292 for 9 (Pujara 133, Saurabh 4-79, Jain 3-56) and 220 lead Central Zone 128 by 384 runs

Cheteshwar Pujara hit his sixtieth first-class century to go away West Zone in a dominating place on the third day of their Duleep Trophy semi-final in opposition to Central Zone in Alur. Rain stopped play instantly after he was run-out for 133, with West ending on 292 for 9 – thus, 384 forward of Central – whilst no play was potential after that stoppage.

Pujara added essential partnerships with the center and decrease orders after West had been 150 for 4 at one stage, when Saurabh Kumar dismissed Sarfaraz Khan for six. He shared vital stands of 47, 32, 21 and 26 for the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth wickets, respectively, because the defending champions took one step in the direction of the ultimate. Pujara picked up tempo in the direction of the latter stage of his innings after initially taking his time to construct his innings, going for his photographs with the tail for firm.

Nonetheless, Central’s spinners Saurabh and Saransh Jain saved a lid on the different finish, sharing seven of the 9 wickets to fall between them. In truth, all six wickets went to the duo on the third day, with Saurabh ending with 4 for 79, and Jain with 3 for 56. After Saurabh had struck first to take away the in a single day batter Sarfaraz, Jain grabbed the subsequent three wickets to maintain West in verify earlier than Saurabh received Chintan Gaja.

That continued a sensational Duleep Trophy for Saurabh, who leads the wicket-taking charts with 16. Nonetheless, his batting team-mates might need to ship one thing particular even when West had been to declare at this stage and set Central 385 to win. And they are going to be particularly cautious through the chase after having folded for 128 within the first innings.

South Zone 21 for 0 (Agarwal 15*, Sudharsan 5*) and 195 want one other 194 runs to beat North Zone 198 and 211 (Prabhsimran 63, Vyshak 5-76, Kishore 3-28)

Rain spoiled the celebration in close by Bengaluru too, leaving the match between South Zone and North Zone tantalisingly poised forward of the ultimate day’s play. Inclement climate interrupted play after South had been 21 with out loss of their chase of 215, first forcing an early tea break after which full abandonment of the night session. However earlier than that, Vijaykumar Vyshak‘s 5 for 76 helped South limit North to 211 within the second innings, after they had been three runs forward within the first.

Vyshak led the way in which, selecting up 4 of the final seven wickets to fall, as North slid from a snug place of 146 for 3. The collapse started when Prabhsimran Singh, on 63, discovered the fielder at deep sq. leg whereas making an attempt to drag a brief ball from Vyshak within the thirty seventh over. Two overs later, Sai Kishore dismissed Ankit Kumar, whereas Vyshak struck twice within the forty sixth: he first had Jayant Yadav inside edging on to his stumps, after which Pulkit Narang slashing one to slide.

Vyshak’s fifth got here when Ricky Bhui held on to a great, low catch down the leg aspect to ship Nishant Sindhu again, whilst Sai Kishore helped clear the tail up with the final two wickets to fall.

Earlier, Prabhsimran performed an enterprising knock which contained 11 fours, though North wanted assist from No. 9 Harshit Rana to spice up their rating. Rana smashed 38 at higher than a run a ball, setting the sport up for a remaining day which might see extra rain breaks.