Saurabh puts Central Zone on the brink of big victory

BENGALURU: Central Zone left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar bagged four wickets to leave East Zone struggling at 69 for six and placed his team on the doorstep of victory on the third day of the Duleep Trophy quarter-final here on Friday. Chasing 300, East needs 231 more runs with four wickets remaining for an improbable win. Central should be thankful to its top-order batters besides Saurabh as they put it in a position of strength by helping post 239 runs in the second innings. Resuming on its overnight score of 64 without no loss, Central moved ahead in the match through openers Himanshu Mantri and Vivek Singh. Mantri (68 off 153 balls, 7 fours) and Vivek (56 off 120 balls, 4 fours, 2 sixes) accumulated 124 runs for the first wicket before departing in quick succession. Saransh Jain (32 not out) and Shubham Sharma (23) came up with cameos while the rest of the batters failed to create a positive impact. Later, East’s batting unit disappointed for the second time in the match as Saurabh ran riot at the Alur Cricket Ground and put his side on the brink of victory. In the other quarter-final, North Zone moved towards a crushing win over North East Zone while posting 259 for six declared in its second innings. After setting a daunting target of 666, North left North East at 58 for three.

BRIEF SCORES: Central Zone 182 & 239 in 87.5 overs (H Mantri 68, Vivek 56, I Porel 3/15, S Ahmed 3/66) vs East Zone 122 & 69/6 in 29 overs (Saurabh 4/33); North Zone 540/8 decl. & 259/6 decl. in 55.1 overs (Ankit 70, Prabhsimran 59, J Yadav 55*, A Kalsi 49) vs North East Zone 134 in 39.2 overs (N Lamichaney 44, S Kaul 3/16, P Narang 3/27) & 58/3 in 18 overs