Malewar, Shubham Sharma make fifties as East Zone reply strongly to West Zone

Bengaluru, Sep 5 (PTI) Central Zone top-order batters, led by Danish Malewar, carried the team to 229 for two, giving a solid reply to West Zone on the second day of the Duleep Trophy semifinal here on Friday.

Shubham Sharma (60) and skipper Rajat Patidar (47) were batting at stumps after Central bagged four quick wickets to end West's first innings at 438. Central need a further 209 runs to take an innings lead.

Malewar, who made a double hundred in the quarterfinal against North-East Zone, took his time to settle down before making 76, as his opening partner Ayush Pandey (40 off 59 balls) went off the blocks briskly.

The left-hander made 32 runs in boundaries, but his cavalier stay ended when Pandey's drive on the up off pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla ended with Aarya Desai in the covers.

But Malewar and Shubham stitched together a 93-run alliance for the second wicket to ensure that they did not waste a firm beginning.

Malewar was confidence personified during his 136-ball innings, seldom giving any chance to the bowlers with precise footwork.

A backfoot punch, which was executed standing tall on his feet, off pacer Tushar Deshpande was an absolute treat to watch. It fetched him four runs in a blink.

But at the other end, Shubham, a veteran of 67 first-class matches, was not really comfortable especially against off-spinner Tanush Kotian and left-arm spinner Dharmendra Jadeja.

The West Zone spinners often beat his outside edge and pinned him on the backfoot, but close margins kept saving the 31-year-old.

There was some help for the spinners as West Zone skipper Shardul Thakur often employed a slip and short leg fielder around an hour into the second session.

Malewar, who completed his fifty in 94 balls, looked good to carry on for more, but a rather loose drive outside the off-stump off Jadeja resulted in a caught behind catch to Harvik Desai.

However, Shubham found another able ally in skipper Patidar, making 69 runs for the ongoing third wicket alliance, to keep Central close on the heels of West Zone.

Eventually, Shubham reached his fifty in 118 balls with a single off Jadeja, and continued to offer a broad bat to the West bowlers.

Unlike other batters, Patidar was more aggressive in his ways, often unfurling those strong drives using supple wrists through the covers to get boundaries as he reached his fifty In the morning session, West, starting from overnight 363 for six, motored on to 411 for six as skipper Shardul Thakur, overnight 24, duly completed his fifty off 83 balls with a boundary off pacer Yash Thakur.

The seventh wicket partnership also touched 84, but the run out of Thakur, who attempted a tight run and ended up on the same end as Kotian, turned the tide in favour of Central.

They plucked the next three wickets of Kotian, Jadeja and Arzan Nagwaswalla for 27 runs to prevent West from posting a much bigger total.

Kotian, overnight 65, could not progress beyond 76 as left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey beat him with a quick one that also carried a hint of turn.

The first session of the day was marked by a fine show by Central spinners, finding much better lengths. PTI UNG AT AT