Duleep Trophy: Central Zone thrash East zone by 170 runs; sails into semis; spinner Saurabh shines

New Delhi: Slow Left Arm Orthodox Saurabh Kumar with his career-best spell of 8 for 64 helped Central Zone to clinch a 170-run win against East Zone in Quarterfinals at Alur on Saturday to book their place in the semi-final of the Duleep Trophy.

Saurabh picked 11 wickets in the match. He had taken three wickets conceding 46 runs in the first innings. Central will face the defending champions West Zone in the semi-finals on July 5 in Alur. West Zone had gotten the direct entry to the semi-finals.

East had started the final day at 69 for 6. In just 12 overs, Central’s Saurabh took the remaining wickets.

Riyan Parag became the first target of Saurabh, dismissed in the 34t over through lbw. Shahbaz Nadeem went back to the pavilion in the 38th over. Akash Deep and Ishan Porel cleared up on successive deliveries to seal the win.

Saurabh’s eight-wicket haul meant bundled out 129, their batting failure in the second innings as well after they had managed only 122 in the first innings. Apart from Saurabh, Shivam Mavi and Avesh Khan got one wicket each.

Central Zone in the first innings had scored 182 and 239 in their second attempt. Central’s openers Himanshu Mantri and Vivek Singh were the only batter who could manage to smash a fifty. Himanshu scored 68 off 153 balls and Vivek struck 56 off 120 balls.

Brief scores: Central Zone 182 (Rinku 38, Murasingh 5/42) and 239 (Mantri 68, Vivek 56, Porel 3/15) Vs East Zone 122 (Parag 33, Avesh 3/34) and 129 (Deep 24, Saurabh 8/64).