Shami's five wickets leave East Zone 118 runs from the Duleep Trophy final

Mohammed Shami took five wickets across the match as Central Zone were bowled out for 158, leaving East Zone 118 runs from a place in the Duleep Trophy final

East Zone need 118 more runs with all ten wickets standing to reach the Duleep Trophy final, after a third-day bowling performance led by Mohammed Shami dismantled defending champions Central Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1 in Bengaluru.
Rajat Patidar's side, who had begun the day with a modest advantage, were dismissed for 158 in 50.2 overs, setting East Zone a target of 159. Shami returned 3-56 from 16 overs, two of them maidens, at an economy rate of 3.50.
Ishan Kishan's side reached 41 without loss from 12.1 overs, and with the pitch having eased since the opening morning, the chase looks a formality rather than a contest.

A one-handed return catch
The dismissal that summed up Shami's morning came when he stuck out a hand off his own bowling to remove Harsh Dubey, who had made 24 from 51 balls and represented Central Zone's last realistic hope of setting something defensible.
The wicket took Shami to five for the match, having claimed 2-42 in the first innings. The 35-year-old's control across his 16 overs was the difference between a target East Zone might have had to work for and one they should knock off well before the close.
His childhood coach, Mohammed Badruddin, told reporters that the seamer remains driven. "Shami's mood is positive. He is quite motivated for the next season. He still has cricket left," he said.

Central Zone undone twice on a green pitch
East Zone had chosen to bowl on a surface offering generous pace and bounce, and were rewarded almost immediately. Abhijit Sarkar removed both openers, Aman Mokhade and Kunal Chandela, and finished with 3-38.
Central Zone slid to 125 for 5 before Rinku Singh counter-attacked, making 60 from 88 balls with eight boundaries and adding 55 with Dubey. A late stand of 45 between Yash Thakur, who finished unbeaten on 30 from 26, and Arshad Khan lifted the total past 250.
Mukesh Kumar took 3-56 and Mohammad Kounain Quraishi two as the innings closed on 266 in 80.1 overs.

Sooryavanshi's record fifty brought parity
East Zone replied with exactly the same total, 266, but reached it in 57 overs rather than 80. The innings belonged to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the vice-captain, who struck 92 from 81 balls with seven sixes and seven fours.
At 15 years and 157 days, he became the youngest player to score a fifty in the tournament's history, breaking a record that had stood for 57 years since Laxman Singh made one at 16 years and 23 days in 1969. He fell at deep midwicket short of what would have been an even more remarkable hundred.
Abhimanyu Easwaran made 69 from 106 and the pair put on 161 for the first wicket. Aryan Pandey then took three wickets in a quarter of an hour, removing Easwaran, Virat Singh and Sudip Gharami, and Yash Thakur added three more to stop East Zone building a lead.

Where the second innings was lost
Central Zone closed the second evening on 45 for 3, and the three dismissals told the story. Chandela went to Mukesh in the fifth over, Aryan Juyal edged Shami to the slips, and Patidar fell to Mukesh from a short ball.
The middle order could not rebuild on the third morning. Losing seven wickets for 113 runs left the champions with a total that never looked like enough on a pitch that has flattened out considerably since day one.

Scorecard: Central Zone 266 (80.1 ov) and 158 (50.2 ov) — Shami 3-56; East Zone 266 (57 ov) — Sooryavanshi 92 — and 41-0 (12.1 ov), need 118 runs to win

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