BENGALURU, July 15: West Zone are 116 runs away from winning the coveted Duleep Trophy as captain Priyank Panchal holds the key batting on 92 at the end of fourth day’s play at Chinnaswamy stadium here on Saturday. At stumps, West were 182/5 with Panchal and Atit Sheth (0*) at the crease. Panchal stitched an all-important 98 runs partnership with Sarfaraz Khan for fifth wicket, reviving West’s fortunes after they were in trouble with the scorecard reading 79/4. Earlier, spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, who took his 18th first-class five-fer, bagged all the three remaining wickets, skittling out South for 230. But before this, Washington Sundar (37) and Vijaykumar Vyshak (23) put on a vital 42 runs stand for 8th wicket. Chasing 298 runs target, West were pushed on the edge early on, with Prithvi Shaw (7) and Harvik Desai (4), losing their wickets to medium pacer Vasuki Koushik and Vyshak. Shaw edged the ball on to his stumps and was adjudged leg-before.
Suryakumar Yadav (4) came in and slammed a boundary, but was trapped leg-before. On both occasions, the duo lost their reviews. Soon after Cheteshwar Pujara followed Suryakumar into the hut by inside-edging the ball on to his pad before it ballooned to Koushik at forward short leg. Panchal plucked one review in his favour on a loud shout for a leg-before after the on field umpire had ruled him out. After that, a piece of confidence wore on him and started to score runs at a good pace. His three straight drives were a treat to watch. Amidst Sai Kishore getting a turn, and the pace trio maintaining good line, Panchal edged one through slips for a boundary to move into the 90s before the umpire drew stumps due to bad light.
Sarfaraz crunched some delightful boundaries using his crease very well and gave a major push to the team’s chase. However, towards the close of play overplayed a flick, and was cleaned up by Sai Kishore after making a valuable 48 runs. Brief Scores: South Zone 213 (Hanuma Vihari 63, Tilak Varma 40; Shams Mulani 3-39, Chintan Gaja 2-27) & 230 (Hanuma Vihari 42, Ricky Bhui 37; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 5-40, Atit Sheth 2-38) leadWest Zone 146 (Prithvi Shaw 65, Harvik Desai 21; Vidwath Kaverappa 7/53, Vijaykumar Vyshak 2-33) & 182/5 (Priyank Panchal 92*, Sarfaraz Khan 48; V Koushik 3-28) by 116 runs. (UNI)
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