The Duleep Trophy match between North and West Zone was evenly poised after the latter finished day three needing 207 runs for victory with eight wickets in hand and two days to go at Dharamsala on Sunday.

Chasing a target of 299, West were 92 for two at draw of stumps with Vinayak Mane on 52 and Jacob Martin on 21.

Earlier, resuming the play at overnight total of 17 for one, North Zone were all out for 191.

Opener Gautam Gambhir hit a sparkling 111 and remained unbeaten saving the North Zone from collapse in the second innings as none of the remaining batsman accept Pankaj Dharmani (36) could reach the double-figure mark.

Gambhir contributed valuable 74 runs for the second wicket with Dharmani and 44 runs for the fifth wicket with Sangram Singh.

Romesh Powar (3-49), Sairaj Bahutule (3-50) and Rakesh Patel (2-38) played a major role in the fall of North Zone, who had acquired crucial lead of 107 in the first innings.

Scoreboard:

North Zone 1st innings: 279

West Zone 1st innings: 172

North Zone 2nd innings (overnight 17-1)
Akash Chopra b M Patel 2
Gautam Gambhir not out 111
Pankaj Dharmani c (sub) b Powar 36
Dinesh Mongia c Kanitkar b Powar 0
Mithun Minhas lbw R Patel 1
Sangram Singh lbw Bahutule 6
Ajay Ratra b Sairaj Bahutule 7
Joginder Sharma b R Patel 5
Sarandeep Singh st Patel b Bahutule 5
Gagandeep Singh run out 0
Amit Bhandari c Patel b Powar 3

Extras                                        15

Total (all out)                              191

Fall of Wickets: 1/4, 2/78, 3/78, 4/79, 5/123, 6/145, 7/152, 8/173, 9/183, 10/191.

Bowling: Munaf Patel 6-1-14-1, Rakesh Patel 20-6-38-2, Romesh Powar 20.4-2-49-3, S Trivedi 8-0-30-0, S Bahutule 14-1-50-3.

West Zone 2nd innings:
D Jadhav b Gagandeep 1
V Mane not out 52
H Kanitkar c Chopra b Sarandeep 16
J Martin not out 21

Extras                                            2

Total (for 2 wkts)                               92

Fall of Wickets: 1/5, 2/45

Bowling: Amit Bhandari 4-1-15-0, Gagandeep 10-5-22-1, Sarandeep 8-0-29-1, Joginder Sharma 3-0-16-0, Dinesh Mongia 5-3-9-0.