Suryakumar,Pujara lead West’s fightback on Day One

Along with captain Cheteshwar Pujara (55,107 balls,10×4),Yadav added 153 runs for the fifth wicket in less than 30 overs to get West back in the game after a top-order collapse in the first hour.

Bengal speedster Ashok Dinda (2/75) started the slide as he castled Harshad Khadiwale (1) in the fifth over of the day.

Mumbai opener Kaustubh Pawar (9) struggled for 70 minutes before edging one off Basant Mohanty to Shreevats Goswami behind stumps. To make matters worse Abu Nechim cleaned up Abhishek Nayar (14) and then had Ambatui Rayudu (9) caught by Biplab Samantray to claim his second wicket.

Counterattack

At 41 for four,Yadav,who has been the fourth highest scorer in the recently-concluded Ranji Trophy (754 runs) joined Pujara,and immediately started attacking the bowling.

Pujara also looked determined to make most of a below-par East attack. Finally,when Nechim got his third victim after holding onto a return catch from Pujara,West had reached 194.

Yadav was eventually out when Shreevats caught the batsman off Nadeem’s bowling. Rohit Motwani (45) and Akshay Darekar (25 batting) added 66 runs for the seventh wicket before Dinda removed the former.

Brief Scores: West Zone 299/7 (Suryakumar Yadav 134,Cheteshwar Pujara 55,Abu Nechim 3/56) vs East Zone