Duleep Trophy 2023 Highlights Semifinals Day 2: Pujara, Sky 50s put West Zone in command vs Central; North 51/2, leads by 54

Bad light has stopped play. Yet again. Ankit Kalsi is on 21 off 19 courtesy of four fours. Prabhsimran on six off eight deliveries. That should be the end of today’s play.

Fifty for Pujara. His 77th in First Class cricket. West’s lead inching towards 250.

And that is also Stumps for the second day. One where West wrestled away full control of the game from Central.

Vidwath Kaverappa continues his fine form and gets the wicket of Prashant Chopra. The opener goes for 19 off 33. Just what South Zone wanted, a wicket before the close of play. Another one would be a cherry on top.

Prabhsimran in the middle to join Ankit Kalsi.

Cheteshwar Pujara is just one short of a fifty. Safaraz Khan on five off 22 deliveries. With play entering into the final 30 minutes, expect the West Zone duo to proceed with caution.

Play finally resumes at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Prashant Chopra and Ankit Kalsi playing for North Zone. They’d want to stick around for the remaining half-an-hour or so pending in the day. For South, one or two wickets are a must to come back into the game.

Sarfaraz Khan is the new batter for West, and just like Sky and Pujara he would want to make this innings count.

Suryakumar Yadav falls after getting to his half-century.

Pranay Rajiv: He plays one shot too many. Tries a lofted drive against Saurabh Kumar, but cannot get it over short extra cover.

There were a lot of eyes on Suryakumar Yadav and how he would fare in the Duleep Trophy. After a disappointing outing in the first innings, Suryakumar checked all the boxes in his second essay.

Pujara is now into his 40s and would hope to join his partner Suryakumar Yadav in scoring a fifty. Their partnership is now worth 95 runs. They’ve taken the game further away from Central Zone and put West in a position to take a massive lead.

Pranay Rajiv: Suryakumar Yadav keeps the boundary flowing and gets to half century with a single off Saransh Jain.

Suryakumar Yadav in sublime touch. He’s made a run-a-ball 46 comprising of eight fours and one six. Pujara on 28 is also looking set in the middle. Sky and Pujara are like ice and fire at play. Taking firm control of the game.

The play resumes at Alur and Suryakumar Yadav hits a six to get the total past the 100-run mark.

A stoppage at Alur ground as well due to rain with West closing in on a 200-run lead.

Badlight stops play at Chinnaswamy.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Suryakumar Yadav have added 57 runs for the third wicket in 79 balls. West looking solid here.

After a short rain-break, the play resumes and Kalsi opens his account with a boundary.

Another rain break at Chinnaswamy as soon as North began its innings.

Dhruv Shorey OUT! V Vyshak gets Shorey out in the second over of the innings.

A R Kalsi comes to crease.

North openers are out in the middle with a narrow lead of three runs.

Pujara and Suryakumar Yadav are back after the session break.

R Sai Kishore Out! Jayant gets the last South Zone wicket as he removes Sai Kishore who scored 21 off 27 to get his team close to get a lead.

The teams break for tea.

Suryakumar Yadav began his innings with two quick boundaries. Pujara too scored a boundary before the teams break for Tea.

Panchal OUT! Both openers are now gone as Saurabh Kumar bowls Priyank Panchal.

Pranay Rajiv: Saurabh Kumar with a gem in his very first over. After watching Panchal loft him over his head for a boundary, Saurabh decides to slow things down. Draws Panchal forward with a flighted delivery. The West opener goes forward in defence, but he misses the ball to find his off stump knocked back.

Central fighting back here.

Suryakumar Yadav joins Pujara at the crease.

The play resumes at Chinnaswamy as R Sai Kishore and last batter Vidwath Kaverappa continue to inch closer to the lead.

The first wicket falls in the form of Prithvi Shaw.

Pranay Rajiv: Shaw misreads the line of the ball and has his off stump clipped. He was batting fluently until then.

Shaw’s wicket brings Cheteshwar Pujara to the crease.

Pranay Rajiv: Shaw and Panchal help West to a fiery start. Shaw has been brutal so far, scoring five boundaries, including two consecutive ones with upper cuts.

V Vyshak is OUT! Vaibhav Arora gets his third wicket as he gets Vyshak caught with South still trailing by 18 runs.

West openers Prithvi Shaw and Priyank Panchal are out in the middle. Avesh Khan is back to the field and is sharing the new ball with Shivam Mavi.

TILAK VERMA OUT! That’s the wicket North Zone wanted skipper Jayant Yadav does it.

A golden duck for KV Sasikanth as Vaibhav Arora gets him leg before.

South still 34 away from restoring parity and has two wickets in hand.

Pranay Rajiv: Rinku gets a boundary against Nagwaswalla with a forceful shot on the leg side. He tries to go even bigger, but hasn’t timed it enough. Shaw completes the catch at deep mid wicket and that is also the five-wicket haul for Nagwaswalla. That is it for Central and West earns a lead of 92 runs.

Sundar falls on 12. He showed intent of attacking when he hit two early fours but put his foot off the gas since.

Tilak Verma in no hurry to get the runs as he tries to stay at one end. Tilak has played 99 deliveries now and is batting on 46.

Central Zone falling like nine pins. West Zone set to take a massive first innings lead.

Pranay Rajiv: Back to back wickets for Sheth. First, Shivam Mavi misses the line completely and Sheth hits the target. Next up, he draws an edge from Avesh Khan and Shaw completes a low catch at second slip.

Washington Sundar hits two fours early on. Tilak Verma is on 44 and inching closer to a half century. The deficit for South Zone down to 39.

Pranay Rajiv: Atit Sheth adds to Central’s misery by forcing an edge out of Saurabh Kumar, which is well caught by Suryakumar at first slip.

Saurabh Kumar fires away from the get go. Three boundaries in his eight deliveries so far to get Central Zone past 100 runs.

Jayant Yadav gets Mayank Agarwal. The South Zone batter departs on 76 runs. This could be a big wicket in the context of this game. Mayank was inching closer to a century and threatened to take the game away from North Zone. That is also the end of the 110-run partnership between him and Tilak Verma.

Washington Sundar joins Tilak at the crease.

West Zone strikes right after Lunch. Arzen Nagwaswalla traps Saransh Jain leg before. Central Zone staring down the barrel. Upto Rinku Singh now to get them as close to the opposition total as possible.

Tilak Verma on 36 and Mayank Agarwal on 67. The pair has ensured North goes wicketless in the morning session. The team trails by just 67 runs.

Rinku Singh and Saransh Jain take Central Zone to the end of first session. Rinku has been disciplined out in the middle today. No signs of aggression from him so far. West brought in the off spin of Yuvraj Dodiya for the last over to counter the two left armers. Central 87/5, trails by 133 runs

South Zone duo Mayank and Tilak consolidate further and bring the deficit down to just 70 runs. Mayank is on 67 while Tilak on 33.

Nagwaswalla strikes again. Upendra Yadav is leg before wicket.

Pranay Rajiv: Yadav looks at the umpire in doubt. He feels the ball would have gone down the leg side.

Pranay Rajiv: Jurel falls short of a well deserved 50. Nagwaswalla gets a change of ends and he traps Jurel in front. West players appeal vehemently and get the umpire’s approval. Jurel was threatening to take the game away from them with some silky shots.

Mayank Agarwal brings up his 50. With six fours and a strike rate that has stayed upward of 50, Mayank has been in firm control in this innings. Tilak Verma is currently on 26 off 50 deliveries The team deficit now below 100 runs too.

Rinku Singh and Dhruv Jurel steady the innings.

Jurel has been magnificent so far. Some masterful boundaries from his bat. Rinku has defended well against Gaja and Nagwaswalla.

A passing shower threatened a stop in play. But it’s sunny now again.

We’re back after the rain delay.

Mayank Agarwal moves closer to a fifty. He is five short right now. Tilak Verma holding fort at the other end.

Dhruv Jurel continues to play the aggressor. He has hit seven fours to move to 38 off just 40 deliveries. He is accompanied by Rinku Singh who has scored two runs off eight balls.

Amandeep Khare is OUT! Gaja castles Khare.

Pranay Rajiv: Dream delivery from the right arm pacer. Pitches on good length. Khare goes forward with a straight bat, but is beaten by a tinge of outswing. Clips the top of off stump on the way.

Dhruv Jurel takes charge and hits three boundaries. He is now on 16 off 24 deliveries. Amandeep Khare has faced six for three runs. Central trails by 195 runs.

Covers still place at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Pranay Rajiv: Gaja sticks to a stump-to-stump line. Last ball of the over, Mantri misses a flick and it strikes him on the front pad.

Himanshu Mantri is OUT! Trapped leg before by Gaja on the last ball of his opening over.

Dhruv Jurel is the new batter. Chintan Gaja to share the new ball.

Pranay Rajiv: Nagwaswalla gets one to jag back in and Vivek Singh plays outside the line. The ball crashes onto the middle stump. The left armer is loving the overcast conditions as he gets the ball to jump around

Vivek Singh and Himanshu Mantri to open the innings for Central. Arzan Nagwaswalla to bowl the first over.

West can only add four runs to its tally as Mavi gets the final wicket - Yuvrajsinh Dodiya.

Pranay Rajiv: Into the pitch and all Yuvraj can do it get a top edge on it. Mavi takes a diving catch to put an early end to West’s first innings.

Chintan Gaja is the unbeaten player on 14.

Mavi gets his fifer. He goes through Nagwaswalla’s defence. The stumps go for a cart wheel.

Central just one wicket away from wrapping up West Zone.

Just three overs into the day and bad light has forced play to stop in Bengaluru.

Shivam Mavi is done with his over after the delay. He concedes just one run from the over. Yash Thakur ready to bowl the next over in Avesh’s absence.

Game held up for 10 minutes after Central complains about the landing area in the first over. Ground staff sorts the issue out and the game restarts

Harshit Rana bowls the first over of the day. Mayank Agarwal on 37 and Tilak Verma on 12.

Central Zone bowler Avesh Khan not on field on Day 2. He had suffered a shoulder injury on the opening day after colliding with Rinku Singh.

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If you are a lower-order batter, coming in behind the likes of Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Suryakumar Yadav and Sarfaraz Khan, you expect a degree of comfort.

But on Wednesday, that wasn’t a luxury afforded to Atit Sheth.

Full Story by Pranay Rajiv:

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Our reporter Pranay Rajiv says, “Again Cloudy. Ground is slightly damp from rains yesterday night. But looks set to start on time Avesh Khan is with the team, but stays out of the warmup drill.”

South Zone 63/4 vs North Zone 198 - South Zone trails by 135 runs

West Zone 216/8 vs Central Zone

Hello and welcome to the Day 2 coverage of the Duleep Trophy semifinals.

West Zone ended Day 1 on 216/8 - a commendable recovery from 65/5. Shivam Mavi was the star of the Central Zone bowling unit as he picked four wickets, including the big guns Cheteshwar Pujara, Suryakumar Yadav and Sarfaraz Khan. Atit Sheth and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja stitched the crucial partnership that saw West go past 200. Chintan Gaja and Arzan Nagwaswalla were at the crease to see out Day 1. The duo will resume and whatever runs they score from hereon will dent into Central Zone’s confidence.

In the other semifinal between North Zone and South Zone, pacers ruled on Day 1. Vidwath Kaverappa claimed his third First Class fifer to wrap up North Zone for 198. North was 114 for eight at one point but the rearguard from Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora got the total close to 200. Rana then struck with the ball along with Baltej Singh to leave South Zone reeling at 35/4. Mayank Agarwal and Tilak Verma arrested the fall and will shoulder massive responsibility on Day 2 to get their side back on track.