The 15-year-old batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi stood in as captain for Ishan Kishan for a few overs as his side East Zone dismissed Central Zone for 266 on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy semifinal here on Sunday.
India fast bowler Mukesh Kumar and fellow right-arm medium pacer Abhijit Sarkar scalped three wickets apiece to bowl out Central Zone in 80.1 overs.
East Zone captain Ishan Kishan’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss was bang on as Mukesh (3/56) and Sarkar (3/38) shared six wickets between them, while Mohammed Shami (2/42) and off-spinner Md Kounain Quraishi (2/49) picked up two wickets each to bundle out Central Zone.
Kishan was, however, forced to leave the field midway the morning session after being hit on his right wrist. Sooryavanshi stood-in as East Zone’s captain for around an hour on either side of lunch when Kishan was off the field to nurse the blow. Kishan later came back to take charge of the team.
When he was leading the side, Sooryavanshi also took a successful call for a Decision Review System (DRS), leading to East Zone getting a crucial wicket.
In the 40th over, opener-cum-wicketkeeper Aryan Juyal, batting on 46, poked hard outside off against Mukesh. The East Zone players went up in appeal for a caught behind dismissal, but the the on-field umpire denied that, forcing Sooryavanshi to trust his instincts and went for the DRS.
The UltraEdge showed a small spike as the ball passed the bat, leading to Juyal’s wicket.
Meanwhile, Rinku Singh (60 off 88), and opener-cum-wicketkeeper Aryan Juyal (46) were the top-scorers for Central Zone.
Central Zone never got the going after being sent into bat as they lost wickets at regular intervals to lose half of their side at 125 by 45th over.
Rinku and Harsh Dubey (27) then tried to stabilise the innings, stitching together 55 runs for the sixth wicket to keep the momentum for Central Zone.
But once Dubey was caught in plumb in front of the wicket by Quraishi in the 60th over, Central Zone’s innings fell apart.
Saransh Jain (13) and Aryan Pandey (22) got starts but failed to capitalise.
Tail-ender Yash Thakur (30 off 26) used his big-hitting skills to get Central Zone forward but the innings eventually folded inside the 300-run mark.
Brief Scores:
Central Zone: 266 all out in 80.1 overs (Rinku Singh 60, Aryan Juyal 46; Abhijit Sarkar 3/38, Mukesh Kumar 3/56).