West Zone fought back strongly to finish the third day on 163 for 1, after bowling out Central Zone for 549, in the Duleep Trophy match in Gurgaon on Monday.

West's bowlers, who were at the receiving end on the first two days, got their act together this morning and removed the last three Central batsmen for the addition of just 19 runs.

Resuming at the overnight score of 532 for 7, Central lost Vineet Saxena (69) in the second over of the day as rookie paceman Munaf Patel shattered the woodwork.

Harvinder Singh (26) also joined Saxena in the pavilion after adding just two runs to his overnight tally. He offered a catch to Kaushik Aphale in the covers off the bowling of Patel, who then wrapped up the innings by inducing Narendra Hirwani (4) to nick an outgoing delivery. Wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia took the catch.

Patel finished with the figures of 3 for 82 and skipper Sairaj Bahutule bagged 3 for 111.

West's reply began on a disastrous note as seasoned campaigner Vinayak Mane (10) offered a simple catch to Amit Deshpande off Sanjay Bangar with the team score on 13.

But that was the only success the Central bowlers could taste as Hrishikesh Kanitkar (78 not out) and opener Dhiraj Jadhav (64 not out) played chanceless knocks.

Both batsman played at a snail's pace and made sure there was no further damage.

Kanitkar hit seven boundaries in his 223-ball knock while Jadhav sent the ball to the fence on four occasions during his 315-minute stay at the crease.

Scoreboard

Central Zone (1st innings):
S Bangar b R Patel 3
G Khoda b R Patel 156
R Prakash c Mane b Bahutule 73
D Bundela b Bahutule 72
J P Yadav c Martin b Bahutule 80
G Pandey b Kulkarni 12
V Saxena b M Patel 69
A Deshpande c Kanitkar b Kulkarni 18
Harvinder Singh c Aphale b M Patel 26
K Parida not out 10
N Hirwani c Mongia b M Patel 4

Extras: (b-12, lb-10, nb-4) 26

Total: (all out in 191.5 overs) 549

Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-186, 3-294, 4-336, 5-370, 6-438, 7-479, 8-534, 9-535.

Bowling: Munaf Patel 31.5-6-82-3, Rakesh Patel 40-7-112-2, Nilesh Kulkarni 40-6-102-2, Sairaj Bahutule 40-10-111-3, Ramesh Powar 35-5-107-0, Hrishikesh Kanitkar 5-0-13-0.

West Zone (Ist Innings):
V Mane c Deshpande b Bangar 10
D Jadhav not out 64
H Kanitkar not out 78

Extras: (b-6, lb-4, nb-1) 11

Total: (for one wkt, 82 overs) 163

Fall of wicket: 1-13.

Bowling: Harvinder Singh 13-5-24-0, Sanjay Bangar 18-8-23-1, J P Yadav 13-5-23-0, K Parida 17-6-28-0, Narendra Hirwani 18-3-49-0, Gyanendra pandey 2-1-5-0, Gagan Khoda 1-0-1-0.