Building on the advantage that Wasim Jaffer's ton afforded West Zone, Nayan Mongia hit an unbeaten 70 to take his side to a position of firm control in their Duleep Trophy match against Central Zone at Rajkot on Wednesday.

Resuming on 286 for five, West Zone benefited from an 84-run partnership between Mongia and Sairaj Bahutule for the sixth wicket. Bahutule made 35, giving good support to his senior partner at the other end.

Mongia batted with the tail well, farming as much of the strike as possible. To their credit, the tail-enders also hung around purposefully, all except Rakesh Patel making double-figure scores before falling.

West Zone were finally bowled out for 416 in 126.3 overs. Narendra Hirwani and Kulamani Parida took four wickets each.

Central Zone started their reply well, with openers Gagan Khoda and J Yadav putting on 75 runs for the first wicket. Yadav fell for 42, and that triggered a collapse. After Irfan Pathan got rid of Yadav, Powar dismissed Tejinder Pal Singh cheaply.

Yere Goud fell for one, caught behind off Bahutule. Raja Ali made 14 before being castled by Pathan. At the close of play, Central Zone were on 154/4. Opener Gagan Khoda was unbeaten on 76, while Rashmi Ranjan Parida was on 8.

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