Spinners harsh dubey

BCCI COE Ground: Fifties from Danish Malewar and Shubham Sharma, along with an unbeaten 47 from skipper Rajat Patidar, led Central Zone’s strong reply, as they reached 229/2 in 67 overs at stumps on Day Two of their Duleep Trophy semifinal and trail West Zone by 209 runs at BCCI COE Ground 2 here on Friday.

In the morning, the West Zone were bowled out for 438 in 108 overs, with Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 184 and were supported by fifties from Tanush Kotian (58) and Shardul Thakur (52). But their innings came to a swift end as they lost their last four wickets for 27 runs. Spinners Harsh Dubey and Saransh Jain picked up three wickets each for Central Zone.

But Malewar’s 76 and Shubham’s 60 not out, along with Patidar being unbeaten on 47 off 59 balls, meant Central Zone are still very much in control of the match. Malewar and Aayush Pandey put on a stand of 67 runs for the first wicket. After Pandey fell for 40, Malewar then added 93 runs for the second wicket with Shubham before falling to Dharmendrasinh Jadeja.