Yusuf Pathan scored 108

Hyderabad: After skipper Dinesh Karthik’s attacking 183, it was pacer Chandrasekar Ganapathy who shone with the ball Wednesday to steer South Zone to a commanding position against West Zone on day two of the five-day Duleep Trophy final here.

Ganapathy rattled the top-order with figures of five for 75 to dismiss West for 251 in their first innings, built mainly around Yusuf Pathan’s breezy 108.

At the end of the second day, South have extended their overall lead to 191.

In their second essay, South were 42 without loss with S. Anirudha (23) and K. Pawan (14) at the crease.

Earlier, South’s first innings folded for exactly 400 after adding just 44 runs to their overnight score with Karthik contributing 23 runs.

Irfan Pathan was the most successful bowler for West, scalping five wickets for 100.

Ganapathy then gave South an excellent start by polishing off the rival top-order in a devastating opening spell.

He removed openers Chirag Pathak (4) and Harshad Khadiwale (12) in successive overs.

West skipper Wasim Jaffer (11), who has hardly settled, became Ganapthy’s third victim when he was caught by Anirudha in the last ball of the 15th over.

Bhavik Tahker (zero) was the next man to face the fury of Ganapthy and could not even open his account.

While wickets were tumbling one after another, Yusuf not only held one end together but scored runs at a brisk pace.

His 76-ball knock was studded with 12 enthralling fours and five shots over the fence before being trapped by Aushik Srinivas.

Irfan Pathan (21), Ramesh Powar (20) and Dhawal Kulkarni (27) batted well down the order to help West get past the 250-mark.

Earler, on Tuesday, West rode on India discard Karthik’s century to get to a good score after losing quick wickets at the start. (PTI)