Jaffer and Rahane lead West's strong reply

West Zone (Rahane 93*, Jaffer 82*) trail England Lions 273 for 4 (Yardy 169, Dhurv 3-53) by 168 runs
Scorecard

Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane led West Zone's strong reply to England Lions' 355 on the second day at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. West, needing an outright win to advance, ended the day on 187 for 1 with Jaffer and Rahane still unbeaten.

Earlier, the Lions' overnight batsmen, captain Michael Yardy (169) and nightwatchman Graham Onions (31) guided their side to a solid 322 for 4 before a dramatic collapse allowed West back into the game. The Saurashtra pair of Sandeep Jobanputra and Rakesh Dhurv shared five of the last six wickets to spark West's fightback.

Jobanputra accounted for the overnight pair; bowling Yardy and then removing Onions in his next over before wicketkeeper James Foster fell to Dhurv for a duck. Liam Plunkett swung his bat around for a 22-ball 19, scoring all the runs in a partnership with Adil Rashid, who ground out 9 off 55 deliveries.

After the Lions innings folded, West's reply got off to a poor start with Sahil Kukreja offering Foster a catch in the first over. There were no more successes for the Lions as the Mumbai pair of Jaffer and Rahane forged a 187-run partnership to keep West's hopes of progressing still alive.

Jaffer, who has been a regular Test opener for the Indian side over the past two years, ended the day on a patient 87, including thirteen boundaries while Rahane was a touch more aggressive, stroking 18 fours in his 93.

With a strong batting line-up - including Parthiv Patel, Cheteshwar Pujara, the highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy this season, and Yusuf Pathan, who slammed a whirlwind century in his previous game - to follow, West will fancy their chances of racking up a big first-innings score to pile the pressure on the Lions.