A monumental 240-run partnership between Yash Dhull (133) and Ankit Kumar (168)* further tightened North Zone’s stranglehold over East Zone in the first quarterfinal. Having already built a handy 175-run lead at stumps on Day 2, North Zone piled on the agony by batting through Day 3 to add another 388 runs, stretching their overall advantage to a massive 563 runs.
After the early dismissal of Shubham Khajuria (21), bowled by Suraj Jaiswal, Dhull joined Kumar at the crease and together the pair completely blunted the East Zone attack. Both batters reached their centuries before Tea, displaying composure and discipline against a listless bowling unit. The stand was finally broken in the third session when Riyan Parag trapped Dhull lbw, but by then the damage had been done.
There was little relief for East Zone even after the breakthrough as Ayush Badoni (56)* joined Kumar to forge another unbeaten 94-run stand. Badoni notched up his second half-century of the match while Kumar went past 150, finishing unbeaten on 168 by close of play.
Brief scores: North Zone 405 & 388/2 (Ankit Kumar 168*, Yash Dhull 133; Suraj Jaiswal 1-37) lead East Zone 230 (Virat Singh 69; Auqib Nabi 5-28, Harshit Rana 2-56) by 563 runs.
Central Zone dominate North East Zone, lead swells to 678 runs
In the second quarterfinal, Central Zone tightened their grip with a commanding all-round show, finishing Day 3 with an imposing 678-run lead over North East Zone. After declaring their first innings on 532/4, Central Zone bowled out their opponents for just 185 before piling on 331/7 in their second innings, powered by Shubham Sharma’s superb 122.
Resuming the morning at 168/7, North East Zone folded quickly, adding just 18 runs for their last three wickets. Khaleel Ahmed, wicketless till then, picked up two scalps in the collapse.
In reply, Central Zone were jolted early as both openers fell to Bishworjit Konthoujam (2/67) and Harsh Dubey followed soon after, leaving them struggling at 48/3. But skipper Rajat Patidar (66) steadied the innings in the company of Shubham. Their 122-run stand revived the innings before another fluent partnership worth 131 runs between Yash Rathod (78) and Sharma further swelled the lead.
North East Zone found some consolation late in the day, dismissing Rathod and Aditya Thakare in quick succession on the stroke of stumps. But the mountain ahead remains steep.
Brief scores: Central Zone 532/4d & 331/7 (Shubham Sharma 122, Yash Rathod 78; Akash Choudhary 2-44) lead North East Zone 185 (Karnajit Yumnam 48, Ankur Malik 42; Aditya Thakare 3-23, Harsh Dubey 2-20) by 678 runs.
