Duleep Trophy Wrap: East, North East Zones face uphill task

North Zone vs North East Zone

In pursuit of a massive 666 for a win, North East were reduced to 58 for 3 on Day 3 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Earlier in the day, led by Pulkit Narag and Siddarth Kaul's triple strikes, North East were bundled out for 134 in their first innings. Nilesh Lamichaney's 44 was the only noteworthy knock in their innings. North opted not to enforce the follow-on and added a quick 259 for 6 before declaring for the second time in the match. Ankit Kumar, Prabhsimran Singh and Jayant Yadav stroked brisk half-centuries.

North East made a steady start to the chase but lost three wickets before the end of the day's play.

Brief Scores: North Zone 540/8 decl. & 259/6 decl. (Ankit Kumar 70, Prabhsimran Singh 59, Jayant Yadav 55*) lead North East Zone 134 (Nilesh Lamichaney 44; Siddarth Kaul 3-16, Pulkit Narag 3-27) & 58/3 by 607 runs

Central Zone vs East Zone

East Zone stuttered early in the run chase, reduced to 69 for 6 at the end of third day's play in Alur against Central Zone on Friday

Resuming the day on 64 for no loss, Central Zone openers - Himanshu Mantri and Vivek Singh - cracked their respective half-centuries and extended the first wicket partnership to 124 runs before Ishan Porel triggered a collapse. The pacer snapped three wickets and was able supported by the spin trip of Shahbaz Nadeem, Shahbaz Ahmed and Riyan Parag to bundle out Central for 239.

Chasing 300 for a win, East were dented early - losing Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sudip Gharami cheaply. Left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar ripped through the top order, returning four wickets.

Brief Scores: Central Zone 182 & 239 (Himanshu Mantri 68, Vivek Singh 56; Ishan Porel 3-15, Shahbaz Ahmed 3-66) lead East Zone 122 & 69/6 (Saurabh Kumar 4-33) by 230 runs