Key Points
- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi cut loose after a cautious start, scoring 40 to put East Zone on course for victory.
- Mohammed Shami claimed three wickets (3/56) and Mukesh Kumar took four wickets (4/44) in Central Zone's second innings.
- Central Zone were bowled out for 158 in their second innings, setting East Zone a target of 159 runs to secure a spot in the Duleep Trophy final.
- Mukesh Kumar finished with an impressive seven wickets in the match, while Shami contributed five wickets across both innings.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made 40 before captain Ishan Kishan stroke a fluent knock of 39 not out to help East Zone down Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy semi-final match in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
Mohammed Shami (8) hit the winning runs as East Zone claimed a four-wicket victory against defending champions Central Zone to advance to the final.
Left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey revived Central Zone's hopes with a four-wicket haul before Kishan kept his cool to take his team to victory.
Sooryavanshi had given East Zone a good start as he put on 61 runs for the opening wicket with Abhimanyu Easwaran after they were set 159 for victory on the third day.
The young left-hander fell to Yash Thakur before Dubey dismissed his opening partner Easwaran for 24. The spinner also accounted for the wickets of Virat Singh (12), Kumar Kushagra (22) and Anukul Roy (0) for figures of 4/39 in 11 overs.
North Zone were bundled out for 158 in their second innings, leaving East to chase 159 for a place in the Duleep Trophy final, at BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
The young Sooryavanshi showed a different facet of his game as he batted with caution in East Zone's second innings. He was watchful against the new ball, getting off the mark from the eighth ball faced with a single off spinner Saransh Jain in the third over.
The left-hander's first boundary came after 21 balls when he lofted pacer Aryan Pandey for a six over long-on in the eighth over.
Interestingly, Sooryavanshi scored only 16 runs from the first 30 balls at a strike rate of 53 -- a sharp contrast to his approach in the first innings when he had smashed 43 from the first 30 balls at a strike rate of 133.
After a watchful start, Sooryavanshi turned things around in grand style.
He took Yash Thakur to the cleaners in the 14th over, smashing the Central pacer for three fours and a six off successive deliveries to bring the target under the 100-run mark.
Thakur had his revenge when he got the wicket of Sooryavanshi for 40 after the left-hander miscued the lofted shot over the leg side and was caught in the deep. Central Zone captain Rajat Patidar ran a long way back fro midwicket before putting in the dive to get the key wicket of the East Zone opener, after he had hit three fours and two sixes in his 43-ball knock.
Shami, Mukesh Dismantle Central Zone
Earlier, Mohammed Shami picked up three wickets while team-mate Mukesh Kumar claimed a four-wicket haul as East Zone bowled out Central Zone for 158.
Shami registered good figures of 3/56 in 16 overs to follow up on two wickets in the first innings, while Mukesh was excellent with the ball as he took 4/44 in 12 overs to finish with seven wickets in the match.
Interestingly, both teams were bowled out for 266 in their first innings reducing the match to a second-innings shootout.
Abhijit Sarkar had given East an early breakthrough when he got the wicket of Aryan Pandey for 10. Shami struck in the very next over, dismissing Yash Rathord (5) as East slipped to 70/5.
Mukesh then trapped the well-set Aman Mokhade for 41 with a beautiful inswinger and Md Kounain Quraishi followed it up with the key wicket of Rinku Singh for 20 in the very next over.
Harsh Dubey, who made 24, fell to a brilliant one-handed catch by Shami off his own bowling. The straight drive from the left-hander was taken by Shami, who stuck out his right hand to take it inches from the ground.
Anukul Roy finished off the East Zone innings when he got the final wicket of Arshad Khan, who stroked a vital 25 from 36 balls.
Central Zone's Struggle
For Central Zone, captain Rajat Patidar failed in both innings with scores of 12 and 5. Rinku, who made 60 in the first innings, was the only Central Zone batter to register a fifty in the match.
On Day 2, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi underlined his red-ball credentials with a 92 full of fire and brimstone, but East Zone failed to take the innings lead over Central Zone.
15-year-old Sooryavanshi was the star of the day and he became the youngest batter to score a fifty in the Duleep Trophy, surpassing Laxman Singh who achieved the feat as a 16-year-old in 1969.
Sooryavanshi also stitched an opening wicket alliance of 161 with Abhimanyu Easwaran, who made a more compact 69 off 106 balls. But East suffered a shocking collapse, losing 10 wickets for 105 runs as the last five wickets went down for 53 runs.
Brief Scores
Central Zone 1st inns: 266 all out in 80.1 ovs (Rinku Singh 60, Aryan Juyal 46, Yash Thakur 30; Abhijit Sarkar 3/38, Mukesh Kumar 3/56, Mohammed Shami 2/42).
East Zone 1st inns: 266 all out in 57 ovs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 92, Abhimanyu Easwaran 69, Sudip Gharami 25; Harsh Dubey 4/66, Aryan Pandey 3/43, Yash Thakur 3/66).
Central Zone 2nd inns: 158 all out in 50.2 ovs (Aman Mokhade 41, Arshad Khan 25, Harsh Dubey 24; Mukesh Kumar 4/44, Mohammed Shami 3/56).
