He has an excellent short game and I would love to have a showdown with him in the final round,' he added.

Shamim Khan (67, 65), too, capped an exceptional round to be placed second. He made eagle on the par five 12th where he holed a 25 feet putt after hitting the green in two. A birdie on the 14th meant Shamim made the turn at three under.

On the second nine, the Delhi golfer converted some very long putts ranging from 25 to 45 feet, to pick up birdies on the second, seventh and ninth. His lone bogey on the sixth came as a result of missing an up and down from the bunker.

Vishal Singh (66, 68) was third at six-under 134 while Digivijay Singh (65, 70) slipped from overnight joint leader to fourth place.

Chouhan (72, 64) from Mhow drained six birdies Thursday to post the best score of round two. His six under 64 placed him tied fifth at four under 136 along with Vijay Kumar, C Muniyappa and Rudresh Sharma. The 22-year-old Chouhan had five consecutive birdies from the 10th to the 14th on day two.

Chouhan said: 'I hit it close all day today and putted really well. The highlight of my round was the chip-in for birdie on the 11th. I've got a lot of advice from my coach Mukesh Kumar on how to manage this course. I hope I can make him proud this week.'

Gurbaaz Mann, the overnight leader, was placed tied ninth along with Ashok Kumar and Raju Ali Mollah at three under 137 while Chennai's Sandeep Syal totalled even par 140 after round two to be tied 20th.