Duleep Trophy: East Zone Crush North East Zone by Innings and 210 Runs

Bengaluru: Shahbaz Ahmed’s commanding 167 and Anukul Roy’s five-wicket haul powered East Zone to an innings and 210-run win over North East Zone in the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 2 on Tuesday.

East Zone first posted a mammoth 467 before Abhijit Sarkar’s five-wicket haul helped bowl North East Zone out for 111 in their first innings. After being sent to bat again through a follow-on, North East Zone managed 146, with Anukul Roy finishing with five wickets as East Zone completed a dominant victory.

Shahbaz was at the heart of East Zone’s imposing first-innings total, scoring 167 off 244 balls with 17 fours and four sixes. Sudip Kumar Gharami also played a key role, making 146 off 185 balls with 25 fours and a six.

East Zone were reduced to 138 for five before Gharami and Shahbaz steadied the innings and turned the game firmly in their team’s favour. Shahbaz continued after Gharami’s dismissal to take East Zone towards a match-winning total of 467 runs.

Brief scores: East Zone 467 (Shahbaz Ahmed 167, Sudip Kumar Gharami 146, Kumar Kushagra 55; Pheiroijam Jotin 3-64, Akash Choudhary 3-102) beat North East Zone 111 & 146 (Pheiroijam Jotin 39, Akash Choudhary 27; Anukul Roy 5-37, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 2-11) by an innings and 210 runs. IANS

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