With the help of some supreme batsmanship by three centurions Vishwas Bhalla (159), Gaurav Gupta (134) and Abhinav Bali (101), North Zone piled up a massive 557 in the first innings of their Vijay Hazare Trophy Under-16 Tournament semifinal match at the Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wodayar Sports Centre in Bangalore on Monday. West Zone were 160 for 3 at stumps on day two.

Resuming at their overnight score of 338 for four, North Zone lost Bhalla soon. Having added just nine more runs to his overnight score of 150, Bhalla departed to a catch by Chetan Suryavanshi off Kunjan Fadia. During his 375 minute stay at the crease, Bhalla had faced 260 balls and hit 20 boundaries and a six. Kuldeep Rawat who was the next man in did not trouble the scorers much as he lasted just five balls and was trapped legbefore by G Yadav for a nought.

This brought A Bali and Gupta together and they responded with a 98 run seventh wicket partnership before the second centurion of the match Gupta was caught behind by Parthiv Patel off Nikhil Rathod. During his 252 minute stay at the crease, Gupta faced 195 balls and hit 18 boundaries. Thereafter, Bali found ample company in Abhishek Sharma (43) and two added 95 runs off just 13 overs for the eighth wicket to take the score to 557 before Bali fell to Rathod after completing a well deserved century. Abhishek Sharma was run out for 43 of the next ball and Rathod finished North's innings when he dismissed last man Punit Sharma for a duck. North Zone lost its last three wickets with no further addition to the score of 557. For West, G Yadav (3 for 132) and Nikhil Rathod (3 for 84) were the pick of the bowlers.

In response, West Zone made a confident start to their innings as the openers Sahil Kukreja (53 not out) and Bhushan Chauhan (24) added 49 runs in 11.1 overs. Chauhan was the first to be dismissed when a direct throw from Abhishek Sharma found the mark. Then Parthiv Patel (37) joined Kukreja and took the score to 97. Patel was the next to be sent back stumped by Bhupinder Singh off Abhishek Sharma. Nikhil Rathod added 48 run for the third wicket with Kukreja. Rathod was trapped leg before by Abhishek Sharma in the 39th over. At close of play, Kukreja and Chetan Suryavanshi (7) were holding the fort for West Zone.

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