North East Zone: Eyes will be on teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi once again when he takes the field in the Duleep Trophy semifinal for East Zone against Rajat Patidar's defending champions, Central Zone, while South Zone will face North Zone in the other semifinal. Both matches are set for Sunday.
East Zone won their quarter-final against North East Zone, as all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed starred with both bat and ball to lead the side to an innings-and-210-run win. Shahbaz (167) forged a strong 150-run partnership with the other centurion, Sudip Kumar Gharami (146), to power the Ishan Kishan-led side to a daunting 467. Medium-pacer Abhijit K Sarkar and Shahbaz then plotted the downfall of the North East side, with Abhijit taking 5-20 and Shahbaz 3-20 as they bowled Rongsen Jonathan's team out for 111 and enforced a follow-on.
North East Zone again faced the brunt of East Zone's bowlers and were bowled out for 146 in the follow-on, with no one scoring a half-century. Ankulul Roy starred with a five-wicket haul, while Sooryavanshi took two wickets in a surprise move. East Zone won by an innings and 210 runs.
