East Zone 467 (Shahbaz 167, Gharami 146, Jotin 3-64, Choudhary 3-102) beat North East Zone 111 (Bhatewara 32, Sarkar 5-20, Shahbaz 3-20) and 146 (Jotin 39, Roy 5-37) by an innings and 210 runs
Shahbaz Ahmed's career-best 167 and Sudip Kumar Gharami's 146, followed by Anukul Roy and Abhijit Sarkar's five-wicket hauls handed East Zone a comfortable innings-and-210-run win over North East Zone in the Duleep Trophy quarter-final at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 2 in Bengaluru.
The only time North East Zone had any footing in the game was on the opening morning when they had East Zone at 25 for 2 and then at 128 for 5, but they couldn't keep up the good work. East, riding on Shahbaz and Gharami's centuries, notched up 467. In reply, North East slid from 78 for 3 to 111 all out with medium-pacer Sarkar picking up 5 for 20.
Forced to follow-on, North East Zone lost Arpit Bhatewara, the top-scorer from the first innings, to Mukesh Kumar early on the third morning. In overcast conditions, Mohammed Shami got the ball to move around, threatening the outside edge of the North East Zone batters on multiple occasions. He did not pick up a wicket but paved the way for the East spinners to do their thing
After a brief partnership, Joseph Lalthankhuma was nabbed by Shahbaz, who continued from his first-innings exploits where he had picked up 3 for 20. Captain Rongsen Jonathan was then caught behind smartly by Ishan Kishan, while Kangabam Priyojit fell to Roy thanks to a good catch by Virat Singh.
Roy, who managed just a wicket in the first innings, was almost unplayable at times on the third day. Operating primarily from the around-the-wicket angle, he kept the wicket-to-wicket line going, and coupled with his arm ball and subtle changes in pace, chugged away.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi then made his presence felt on the scorecard, picking up two wickets in an over. Bowling his left-arm orthodox spin, he first got Kishan Lyngdoh to miscue an aerial shot over the covers before luring Imliwati Lemtur into a forward push, with the ball taking his outside edge through to Kishan.
Akash Chaudhary and Pheiroijam Jotin delayed the inevitable, adding 39 runs for the ninth wicket, before Roy completed his five-wicket haul to hand East victory. He first clean bowled Choudhary and then had Jotin, with Kishan completing a leg-side stumping as East completed the victory shortly after lunch.
East Zone will meet Central Zone, the winners of last season's Duleep Trophy, in the semi-final, which begins on August 30.