Sanjeev Kumar of Lucknow produced the second day's best score of five-under-66 to be in a three-way tie for the lead at the halfway mark at the Pune Open Golf Championship.
He is in a three-way tie along with Sri Lankan N Thangaraja (68) and Bengaluru's Jaibir Singh (70) at eight-under-134.
Kolkata's Shankar Das (67) was one shot off the lead in fourth place at the Rs 30 lakh event.
The cut came down at three-over-145 at the Poona Club Golf Course as 53 professionals made it to the money rounds.
Sanjeev (68-66), who was tied seventh and five off the lead at the start of the day, leapfrogged six spots to joint first courtesy his hot putter.
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The 27-year-old, a consistent performer on the PGTI who is still searching for his maiden win, began poorly on day two as he dropped a double-bogey on the second.
However, he rallied with five consecutive birdies from the sixth to the 10th to fight his way back into the tournament. Sanjeev drained two more birdies on the back-nine to emerge as a prime contender.
Sanjeev, who has a couple of runner-up finishes to his name, said: "I felt good about my game from the very outset today. When I hit a terrific tee shot on the first hole, I knew it was going to be one of those days where I could do something special. I came back really well despite the early double-bogey on the second."
Ahmedabad-based Samarth Dwivedi, the first round leader, slipped eight spots to tied ninth at three-under-139 after a round of 76.
Pratik Nirmale (70) was the highest-placed Pune golfer in tied 18th at one-under-141.
The five other Pune-based professionals who made the cut were Pravin Pathare, Sagar Raghuvanshi, Rajiv Datar and Sameer Shaikh (all in tied 35th at two-over-144) as well as Akshay Damale (tied 44th at three-over-145).
Chandigarh's Harendra Gupta, the winner of the 2016 Pune Open, also closed the day in tied 44th at three-over-145.
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