Mohali, Oct 24 (IANS): Gautam Gambhir's 167 powered North Zone to 457 on the third day of the Duleep Trophy cricket semi-final against Central Zone at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium here Friday.

The left-handed opener, who started the day on 68, got good support from Mandeep Singh (74) as other overnight batsman Yuvraj Singh fell three runs short of a fifty when the team's total read 170/3.

Gambhir was then joined by Mandeep and the duo forged a 160-run partnership to bail the team out of trouble, considering that Central Zone piled a huge score of 538.

Gambhir dominated against a decent bowling line-up of pacers Pankaj Singh, Ishwar Pandey and spinners like Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav and Karn Sharma, and played his shots all around the park to collect 18 boundaries in his innings. He played 242 deliveries before he offered a catch to Arindam Ghosh of Ishwar's bowling.

Nitin Saini played an aggressive knock of 56 off 76 deliveries with the help of one six and eight fours. Saini was castled by Kuldeep.

Jammu and Kashmir all-rounder Parvez Rasool kept the North scoreboard ticking with a score of 44 that included one six and six shots to the fence. Rasool, Samiullah Beigh and Yuzvender Chahal lost their wickets within five overs as North conceded 81 runs.

Kuldeep was the best bowler for the Central team with figures of 3/94 while Pankaj, Ishwar and Karn picked up two apiece and Chawla bagged the lone wicket of Beigh.

Brief Scores:
Central Zone: 538 lead North Zone: 457 in 118.1 overs (Gautam Gambhir 167, Mandeep Singh 74, Nitin Saini 56, Yuvraj Singh 47; Kuldeep Yadav 3/94, Karn Sharma 2/67, Pankaj Singh 2/77, Ishwar Pandey 2/86) by 81 runs at stumps Day 3.