An unbeaten 149 run fifth wicket stand beween North Zone opener Viswas Bhalla (150) and Gaurav Gupta (74) was the feature of the opening day of the Vijay Hazare Trophy Under-16 tournament semifinal match between North and West Zone at the Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wodayar Sports Centre in Bangalore on Sunday. North Zone took the days honours as they went into stumps at 338 for 4.

Put into bat, North Zone made a sedate start with openers Bhalla and Shakar Dhawan (30) adding 46 runs in 9.5 overs. Dhawan was the first wicket to fall, caught by Suriyavanshi off Gautam Yadav. The new batsman Rahul Arora (8) flattered to deceive. After plucking two boundaries, Arora was caught behind by Parthiv Patel off Yadav in the 14th over. Then Paras Dogra (17) joined Bhalla and took the score to 95 before being bowled by Kunjan Fadia.

Deepak Soni (27) then forged the first significant partnership with Bhalla. Coming in at the fall of Dogra, Soni added 94 runs for the fourth wicket before Soni departed being run out in the 55th over. Thereafter Bhalla and Gaurav Gupta took over the proceedings. Viswas Bhalla reached his 150 at the fag end of the day. During a day long stay at the crease, Bhalla has so far faced 268 balls and his innings was studded with 19 hits to the fence with one clearing it. At the other end Gourav was at the middle for 144 minutes and faced 108 balls and has hit 10 fours.

© CricInfo