Gareth Shaw is eight shots off the lead in IndiaGareth Shaw was relieved to make the cut on his 2013 Challenge Tour debut but hopes he may now have the freedom to make a weekend charge and chase down leader Andrew McArthur.

Eight strokes behind the Scot following a second successive level par 72 in the Gujarat Kensville Challenge in India, the 27-year old from Lurgan is not giving up hope of a maiden victory.

“It is a bit of a relief,” said Shaw, who made the three over par cut by three shots despite some nervous moments in his second round.

“I felt a bit nervous when I was one over with five left and had a couple of par saves and they were nice because you start to feel good about yourself.

Tournament leader Andrew McArthur. Credit: Karolina Gembara“You come all this way and then if you were to miss the cut you have to stay around all weekend so it would have been a bit annoying but it’s my first tournament of the year so I have got to be pleased with my start.

“It’s completely different to what I’m used to but course management is key here and that has always been one of my strengths.

“Hopefully tomorrow I can free it up a little bit because I’ve felt tense out there. Then you never know what can happen. I’m just chasing a good performance, I can’t control what anyone else does, I just have to do my own thing.”

McArthur, meanwhile, added a 69 to his opening 67 to move two shots clear of Shiv Kapur and into pole position for a first European Challenge Tour title in five years.

Home favourite Kapur appeared inspired by a visit from Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar to Kensville Golf and Country Club, carding a one under par 71 to enter the weekend in second place on six under.

After 36 holes

136 A McArthur  (Sco) 67 69,

138 S Kapur (Ind) 67 71,

139 A Domingo (Esp) 66 73, W Booth  (Sco) 68 71, T Sluiter  (Ned) 70 69,

140 V Riu  (Fra) 68 72, A Pavan (Ita) 69 71,

141 G Bhullar (Ind) 71 70, R Gangjee (Ind) 72 69, D Im (USA) 73 68,

142 T Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 71, J Dantorp (Swe) 69 73, B An (Kor) 73 69, G Murray  (Sco) 69 73, P Archer (Eng) 73 69, B Koepka  (USA) 70 72,

143 P Uihlein  (USA) 71 72, S Tiley (Eng) 70 73, R Enoch  (Wal) 71 72, A Malik (Ind) 70 73, S O’Hara  (Sco) 71 72, S Barr (Aus) 72 71, J Glennemo (Swe) 68 75, J Lima  (Por) 70 73,

144 T Hatton (Eng) 73 71, O Chouhan (Ind) 70 74, F Praegant (Aut) 70 74, F McGuirk  (Eng) 69 75, GARETH SHAW (Nir) 72 72, M Kumar (Ind) 73 71, S Das (Ind) 73 71, S Hutsby  (Eng) 73 71, D Vancsik (Arg) 72 72,

145 J Barnes (Eng) 73 72, A Bernadet  (Fra) 74 71, A Sandhu (Ind) 73 72, V Singh (Ind) 70 75, H Rai (Ind) 71 74, A Velasco (Esp) 76 69, F Colombo (Ita) 71 74,

146 M Glauert (Ger) 76 70, D Singh (Ind) 73 73, L Jensen (Den) 71 75, M Perera (Sri) 69 77, R Russell (Sco) 76 70, K Bhasin (Aus) 76 70, R Ali Mollah (Ind) 76 70, D Kemmer (USA) 72 74, R Sharma (Ind) 72 74, V Kumar (Ind) 75 71, R Davies (Wal) 75 71, A Sher (Ind) 73 73, R Beem (USA) 73 73,

147 B Parker  (Eng) 72 75, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 73 74, S Chikkarangappa (Ind) 74 73, S Sharma (Ind) 75 72, D Wuensche  (Ger) 72 75, A Singh Chauhan (Ind) 74 73, C Aguilar  (Esp) 77 70, C Kim (USA) 73 74, R Murthy (Ind) 72 75, D Brooks (Eng) 74 73,

CUT

148 D Denison  (Eng) 72 76, J Ruth  (Eng) 72 76, H Bacher (Aut) 76 72, J Senior (Eng) 76 72, J Garcia  (Esp) 74 74, R Bajaj (Ind) 72 76, A Cheema (Ind) 76 72, F De Vries  (Ned) 74 74,

149 R Khan  (Ind) 71 78, K Joshi (Ind) 72 77, A Kuhar (Ind) 74 75, G Ghei (Ind) 72 77,

150 A Singh Chadha (Ind) 73 77, A Tiwana (Ind) 73 77, H Baisoya (Ind) 74 76, P Dwyer (Eng) 77 73,

151 R Ghotra (Ind) 76 75, R Dinwiddie  (Eng) 78 73, T Haylock  (Eng) 74 77, G Delhi (Ind) 76 75, A Jha  (Ind) 75 76, N Dawar (Ind) 76 75, J Moul  (Eng) 75 76, N Ravano (Ita) 75 76,

152 B Hebert  (Fra) 75 77, C Kumar (Ind) 73 79,

153 C Brazillier  (Fra) 81 72, L Goddard  (Eng) 80 73, E Dubois (Fra) 79 74, R Hilton (Ind) 76 77, M Dharma (Ind) 77 76, A Saini (Ind) 80 73, D Bajaj (Ind) 73 80,

154 D Griffiths  (Eng) 78 76, K Borsheim  (Nor) 81 73, T Murray (Eng) 75 79, S Bhaduri (Ind) 74 80, N Mandal (Ind) 76 78, P Kumar (Ind) 75 79,

155 M Ali (Ind) 73 82, D Singh Kullar (Ind) 75 80, S Shaikh (Ind) 76 79, S Engell Andersen  (Ken) 73 82, J Howarth (Eng) 79 76,

156 G Giddie  (Ken) 77 79, R Sardar (Ind) 82 74,

157 K Kumar (Ind) 77 80,

158 M Haremza (Ger) 80 78,

160 S Sharma (Ind) 76 84, B Singh (Ind) 84 76,

161 A Bajrang Mane (Ind) 80 81,

162 A Kumar Chauhan (Ind) 80 82, K Vasudeva (Ind) 81 81, R Singh (Ind) 86 76,

172 G Mann (Ind) 80 92,

** M Singh Pathania (Ind) 80 RT, C Ford (Eng) 73 DQ.