The second day of the Duleep Trophy match between Central Zone and England Lions here at the Motibaug ground belonged to pacer Pankaj Singh. With his pace and swing, he troubled the English players and scalped four wickets to wrap up the rivals’ innings for 155 runs, giving Central a crucial first innings lead of 115 runs. At stumps, Central were 23/2 with Vineet Saxena (19 not out) and Sanjay Bangar (yet to face a ball) at the crease.Pankaj struck in his first over itself, inducing an edge from Joe Denly, and wicket-keeper pluck a low catch. But it was his second wicket of the day that deserves a special mention as the right-arm fast bowler set up Lions’ skipper Michael Yardy. He first bowled two in-swingers to the southpaw and then bowled one that subtly deviated away from him. Yardy went for a drive ending up giving a catch to Bangar at second slip. “It was my best wicket of the day,” said Pankaj, who returned from Australia after the Test tour. His Australia experience, where the 22-year old picked up vital tips from team members and bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad, came handy today. “I have become mentally stronger. The game is almost the same. I picked up few good tips there,” said Pankaj.The Rajasthan seamer today bowled in two spells of eight overs each, claiming two wickets in both. Earlier, resuming at 238/7, Central were bowled out for 270 runs.Brief scores: Central Zone 270 (Md Kaif 64, Faiz Fazal 37, Vineet Saxena 34) & 23/2 vs England Lions 155 (Adil Rashid 40; Pankaj Singh 4/35, Praveen Gupta 3/32).
