Giving a strong reply to England Lions' first innings total of 355 runs, West Zone ended the second day of their Duleep Trophy cricket match at the Motibag ground in Vadodara at 187 for one.
After losing opener Sahil Kukreja, who failed to open his account, both Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane stood like a rock and put on an unbeaten second wicket partnership of 187 runs.
The partnership raised the hope for the West Zone to pile up a huge total and deny England Lions a chance to enter the knockout stage of the tournament.
Rahane made 93 (4x18) facing 154 balls in 225 minutes while Jaffer's 82 (4x13) came in 227 minutes in 181 balls.
England captain Michael Yardy tried as many as six bowlers to break this pair but remained unsuccessful.
Earlier, resuming at 273 for four, England Lions were all out for 355 runs in their first innings.
Both the overnight batsmen Yardy and Graham Onion added 49 more runs this morning before Yardly was clean bowled by S Jobanputra. Yardy made 169 runs studded with 23 fours.
The fifth wicket partnership between Yardy and Onions added another 55 runs.
Onions soon followed Yardy and the remaining batsmen failed to offer any resistance to the West Zone bowlers, and the team was bowled out before lunch.
Both the spinners Rakesh Dhruve (3/53) and S Jobanputra (2/44) bowled beautifully to restrict the visitors.
Scorecard:
England Lions, Ist innings
Michael Carberry lbw Ashraf Makada 1
Joe Denly run out S Trivedi 32
Michael Yardy b S Jobanputra 169
Ed Joyce lbw Ashraf Makada 32
Jon Trott lbw Ashraf Makada 44
Graham Onions c S Kukreja b S Jobanputra 31
James Foster lbw Rakesh Dhruve 0
Adil Rashid Not Out 9
Lian plunket C S Kukreja B Ramesh Pawar 19
Steve Kerby lbw Rakesh Dhruve 3
Monty Panesar C Pujara b Rakesh Dhruve 1
Extras: b-4, lb-8, nb-2 14
Total: 355 all out
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-51, 3-126, 4-267, 5-322, 6-323, 7-323, 8-342, 9-353, 10-355.
Bowling: S Trivedi 22-0-73-0, Ashraf Makada 18-4-61-3, S Jobanputra 13-4-44-2, Ramesh Power 26-5-62-1, Rakesh Dhruve 24-9-53-3, Yusuf Pathan 21-7-39-0, Ajinkya Rahane 2-0-11-0.
West Zone, Ist innings
Sahil Kukreja c James Foster b Graham Onions 0
Wasim Jaffer batting 82
Ajinkya Rahane batting 93
Extra: b-2, lb-3, nb-7 12
Total: 187 for 1 wkt (in 55 overs)
Fall of wicket: 1-0
Bowling: Graham Onions 11-1-41-1, Steve Kerby 12-1-34-0, Monty Panesar 3-0-29-0, Liam Plunket 9-2-25-0, Jon Trott 6-2-16-0, Adil Rashid 9-0-37-0.