Duleep Trophy 2023: Cheteshwar Pujara and Suryakumar Yadav shine for West Zone

Duleep Trophy semi-finals are currently in progress with West Zone facing Central Zone while North Zone have locked horns with South Zone. Both matches are being played in Bengaluru - one at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and the other at Alur Cricket Stadium. Interestingly, both matches suffered similar fate with the first innings turning out to be low-scoring. India Test discards Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, Cheteshwar Pujara and Suryakumar Yadav - all playing for West Zone - returned with low scores in the first innings.

However, Pujara and Surya have made amends in their second essay scoring



impressive half-centuries. While Surya was aggressive scoring 52 runs off just 58 deliveries, Pujara was defensive as usual scoring an unbeaten 50 off 103 balls. Having earned a big lead of 92 runs in the first innings, West Zone ended the second day at 149/3 after 39 overs and are in a good position at the moment.

Pujara has been dropped for the upcoming West Indies Test series and has returned to domestic cricket now to make a comeback in the national side. On the other hand, Suryakumar Yadav lost his place after being in the standbys for the WTC Final and a decent show bodes well for him as well.