Bengaluru, June 30 Left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar picked four quick wickets on day three's play in the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal, leaving East Zone in tatters at 69/6 in a chase of 300 and put Central Zone in pole position to reach the semi-finals, here on Friday.
The day began with Central Zone having a batting collapse, going from 124/0 to 239 all out, giving East Zone a target of 300 to chase at the Alur Cricket Ground. But Saurabh spun a vicious web around the East Zone batters, taking 4/39 and leaving them in a precarious position at stumps.
East Zone still need 231 runs, but have only four wickets in hand to achieve an improbable victory.
Resuming the day from 64/0 in 25.1 overs and leading at 124, Vivek Singh (56) and Himanshu Mantri (68) took their opening partnership to 124, before Ishan Porel castled the former.
It was followed by Shahbaz Nadeem taking out Mantri, and at the stroke of lunch, Shahbaz Ahmed got into the act by trapping Kunal Chandela lbw. Post the break, wickets continued to fall for Central Zone as Rinku Singh was taken out by Riyan Parag.
Porel's remarkable show continued when he trapped Upendra Yadav and Saurabh lbw on successive deliveries. From there, Central Zone's batting began to slide, though Saransh Jain stood up to hit 32 not out and take the side to 239, giving East Zone a challenging target of 300.
In defence, Saurabh drew first blood by castling East Zone captain Abhimanyu Easwaran for 11. After Sudip Kumar Gharami was dismissed by Avesh Khan, Saurabh trapped Anustup Majumdar lbw, followed by Shahbaz Ahmed and Shantanu Mishra being caught behind by wicketkeeper Upendra.
Central Zone captain Shivam Mavi landed a huge blow before stumps by trapping Kumar Kushagra lbw to put the team firmly in contention for the semi-finals.
Brief Scores: East Zone 122 in 42.2 overs and 69/6 in 22 overs (Shahbaz Ahmed 18; Saurabh Kumar 4/33) trail Central Zone 182 in 71.4 overs and 239 in 87.5 overs (Himanshu Mantri 68, Vivek Singh 56; Ishan Porel 3/15, Shahbaz Ahmed 3/66) by 231 runs.
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