Nagwaswalla five-for rattles Central Zone; South Zone collapse after Mayank, Tilak knocks

On a day where as many as 15 wickets fell in Alur, West Zone drove themselves into a commanding position by stumps on day two of the Duleep Trophy semi-final against Central Zone.

Having been bowled out for 220 - they added just four to their overnight 214 for 8 - West stormed back courtesy Arzan Nagwaswalla. The Gujarat fast bowler picked up 5 for 74, his sixth first-class five-for, to skittle Central for just 128.

Rinku Singh, whose omission from India's T20I squad for West Indies became a raging debate among fans on Wednesday night, top-scored with 48, while Dhruv Jurel, his Uttar Pradesh state mate, scored 46. Both players were among Nagwaswalla's victims as West pocketed a 92-run lead.

West then consolidated their position courtesy a 95-run stand between Cheteshwar Pujara and Suryakumar Yadav, before Central had some respite in the last half hour. Saurabh Kumar, who had earlier in the innings accounted for Priyank Panchal, dismissed Suryakumar after he'd made a robust 58 as he chipped one straight to short extra cover.

As he did in the first innings, Pujara battled hard and lent solidity to the innings. He will hope to build on his unbeaten 50 on day three along with Sarfaraz Khan, who will be keen to make amends for his first-innings duck.

Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz's Mumbai team-mate, however, couldn't impress as he fell for a 26-ball 25 to go along with his 26 in the first innings. Shaw was cleaned up by Yash Thakur*, shouldering arms to one that decked back in sharply.

On a see-saw day at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where rain and bad light had the players indoors for much of the afternoon, North Zone kept themselves in the game after their bowling unit combined to skittle South Zone for 195.

Vaibhav Arora and Jayant Yadav picked up three wickets apiece as South Zone collapsed on either side of a 110-run stand between top-scorer Mayank Agarwal and Tilak Varma, who on Wednesday celebrated his maiden call-up to India's T20I squad.

Agarwal struck a 115-ball 76 and was the first wicket to fall. Washington Sundar, who managed just 12, fell soon. Varma's wicket in the next over turned the tide. R Sai Kishore hit 21 to narrow the deficit, before Arora picked up two of the last three wickets to help North Zone secure a three-run lead.

South Zone struck twice before Ankit Kalsi and first-innings top scorer Prabhsimran Singh ensured no further damage as North ended on 51 for 2, effectively 54 ahead with two full days remaining.