Left-arm spinner Anukul Roy grabbed five wickets while Vaibhav Sooryavanshi also helped himself to a couple of scalps as East Zone demolished North East Zone by an innings and 210 runs to enter the Duleep Trophy semi-finals, on Tuesday. The match finished inside two and half days as North East were bowled out for 146 in their second innings after being asked to follow-on post a meagre 111-run total in the first essay. East Zone had posted a mammoth 467 runs in their first innings. On the third day, all it took was 50 overs in the second innings to wrap up the proceedings.
Starting the day at 7 for no loss, North East lost wickets at regular intervals before Pheiroijam Jotin Singh (39) and Akash Choudhary (27) added 39 for the ninth wicket to ensure that the minnows weren’t skittled out for less than 100.
One of the highlights on the third day was skipper Ishan Kishan’s glovework as he effected five dismissals — two stumpings and three catches.
India A player Anukul bowled in the right areas and North East batters didn’t have any clue about which of his deliveries would turn away or remain on stumps.
His final figures read 15-4-37-5. It was his seventh five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.
Since the game was under control, Kishan even gave Sooryavanshi a chance to roll his arms and the 15-year-old didn’t disappoint his skipper picking up a couple of wickets. Sooryavanshi’s two wickets were a welcome surprise after he managed just 8 runs with the bat.
The match ended when Jotin tried to attack Anukul only for Kishan to execute an easy stumping. The East Zone captain did not have a memorable outing with the bat (4), but did take four catches and made a stumping.
Veteran pacer Mohammed Shami was the only East Zone player who failed to take a wicket across both innings, while Mukesh Kumar managed a single scalp in each innings.
Shahbaz Ahmed, for his superb all-round show (167 runs and four wickets), was adjudged player of the match.
Brief Scores: East Zone 467. North East Zone 111 and 146 in 50 overs (P Jotin Singh 39, Anukul Roy 5/37).
With PTI inputs
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