ALUR— Cheteshwar Pujara compiled a hundred full of intent to push West Zone to 292 for 9 in their second innings against Central Zone, and place his side firmly on the path to Duleep Trophy final here on Friday.
Riding on Pujara's 133 off 278 balls, West, after starting the day at 149 for 3, swelled their lead to a commanding 384 on a rain-hit third day which forced an early closure.
Pujara, overnight 50, fell into his gear early and never really gave any chance to the bowlers. His innings had 14 boundaries and a six and he batted for 366 minutes.
The Central, in fact, started the day on a bright note dismissing Sarfaraz Khan in the very first over of the day.
The Mumbai youngster edged left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar to stumper Upendra Yadav, who held onto a rather simple chance. It also ended an underwhelming outing for him, making 0 and 6 here.
The Central bowlers continued to trouble batsmen at the other end, but Pujara was immovable. The Saurashtra star indicated his intent in the first session itself, playing out 102 balls for 42 runs with three fours.
As is his vaunt, Pujara snipped all the risks from his game at this stage and offered shots only to those balls that thoroughly deserved to put away.
Het Patel, who made 27, did the major scoring during this period and the right-hander was very easy on the eyes as well.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]Pujara went into lunch on 92 and hardly wasted any time to reach the landmark upon his return. Pujara hammered Saurabh for a couple of fours, one through the cover and one behind the point fielder, to complete his hundred.
Once he went past the milestone, Pujara transformed into a different batter. Saurabh and off-spinner Saransh Jain, who combined to take seven wickets among them, were put to swords.
Pujara unfurled some attractive shots too, and his six off Saurabh was quite a stunner. The ball drifted on his leg and Pujara sent it soaring over mid-wicket with a simple flick of his wrists.
Then there were those archetypal flicks off the pads off both pacers and spinners, who did the bulk of bowling on the day, as West raced ahead of Central's reach.
With wickets tumbling constantly at the other end, Pujara wanted to keep the strike, and his attempt to take a quick single off the last ball of an over resulted in his run out.
But by then, he had done enough to seal the fate of the match. If there is no play on the final day, West will enter the final by the virtue of their 92-run first innings lead.