East Zone have been set 159 runs as target by Central Zone.
Central Zone had been put to bat first after East Zone captain Ishan Kishan won the toss. Thanks to Rinku Singh’s 60, Aryan Juyal’s 46 and 27 runs each by Yash Rathod and Harsh Dubey, Central Zone posted 266 in their first innings.
East Zone replied with 266 runs as well, with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smashing 92, Abhimanyu Easwaran making 69 runs. Central Zone was looking to make a match out of the game and had to post a significant score to make East Zone work hard for the target.
However, Mukesh Kumar’s 4/44 and Mohammad Shami’s 3/56 blew them away for 158 runs in the second innings. Aman Mokhade starred with 41 runs, while Harsh Dubey made 24 runs.
Dubey was looking good with the bat as he slowly conjured the runs for Central Zone; however, his knock came to an end thanks to some brilliant fielding off his own bowling by Mohammad Shami.
Shami bowled a yorker to Dubey, who barely managed to scoop it out. The ball traveled towards Shami at ankle height and the pacer, in his follow-through, bent low down and plucked the ball just off the ground with his right hand.
He shocked even the batter and his teammates with his one-handed catch. The umpires sent the decision upstairs, where replays showed that the ball hadn’t bounced before reaching Shami and the bowler’s catch was clean.
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Meanwhile, East Zone has been set 159 runs to win the game.