Cheteshwar Pujara scored a chanceless hundred on a rain-curtailed day as West Zone closed in on a win against Central Zone on the third day of the Duleep Trophy semifinal at the Alur (1) cricket ground here on Friday.
Central bowlers kept finding breakthroughs from one end, but couldn’t dislodge an immovable Pujara, who scored his 60th First Class hundred, bringing him level with Vijay Hazare’s tally.
Pujara was eventually run out by Saransh Jain on 133, just before rain put an end to the day’s play with West on 292 for nine and leading Central by 384 runs.
The Saurashtra batter was untroubled by the Central bowlers, as he batted for more than six hours to take his side to a virtually unbeatable position.
Pujara and left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar duelled on throughout, with the right-hander blunting the spinner with his measured defence.
Except for Pujara, most West batters failed to stay put. Overnight batter Sarfaraz Khan was snared by Saurabh in the first over of the day after he edged one to wicketkeeper Upendra Yadav.
Het Patel, who came in next, provided the perfect foil to Pujara, as he hit some crisp boundaries to push West forward. The two added 47 runs before Saransh polished off West’s lower middle-order with his quickish off-spin.
Pujara, realising that he was running out of partners, upped the ante, getting to his hundred with a couple of boundaries against Saurabh.
The left-arm spinner soon removed Chintan Gaja to put further pressure on Pujara, who played a few atypical paddle sweeps and lofted shots, including a perfectly-timed six over mid-wicket against Saurabh.
Pujara’s long vigil was ended by Saransh while attempting a risky single. Just as the West batter made his way back, the heavens opened up, almost in despondence at his dismissal, bringing day three to an end.
The scores: West Zone — 1st innings: 220.
Central Zone — 1st innings: 128.
West — 2nd innings: Prithvi Shaw b Yash 25, Priyank Panchal b Saurabh 15, Cheteshwar Pujara (run out) Saransh 133, Suryakumar Yadav c Khare b Saurabh 52, Sarfaraz Khan c Upendra b Saurabh 6, Het Patel c Khare b Saransh 27, Atit Sheth lbw b Saransh 9, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja c Rinku b Saransh 9, Chintan Gaja c Jurel b Saurabh 4, Arzan Nagwaswalla (batting) 1; Extras (b-3, lb-1, w-6, nb-1) 11; Total (for nine wkts. in 92 overs): 292.
Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-40, 3-135, 4-150, 5-197, 6-213, 7-245, 8-266, 9-292.
Central Zone bowling: Mavi 10-0-57-0, Avesh 14-2-61-0, Yash 12-3-35-1, Saurabh 28-4-79-4, Saransh 28-10-56-3.
