Duleep Trophy 2026 QF round up: North Zone, East Zone advance, as Mohammed Shami ends up wicketless

Abid Mushtaq stars in North Zone’s triumph over West Zone

North Zone put up 251 in the first innings on the back of comprehensive fifties from Ayush Badoni (51) and Anshul Kamboj (60). Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande bagged four wickets each, while Mukesh Choudhary and Shardul Thakur got one apiece. In response, left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq stole the show with a five-wicket haul to keep West Zone to 187. Arshdeep Singh and Anshul Kamboj contributed with three and two wickets respectively.

With a 67-run lead, the North Zone batters played their shots in the second innings. Badoni got another fifty as North Zone put up 222, leaving West Zone to chase 287.

Musheer Khan scored 96 to take the fast bowlers to the cleaners. In a post-match interview, he mentioned that it was a part of his plan to attack the pacers, since spinners were getting a lot of assistance from the wicket. However, Mushtaq took four more wickets as West Zone lost their last six for 23 to hand the North Zone a 52-run win along with a place in the semi-final against South Zone.

East Zone breeze past North East Zone, but Shami goes wicketless

Two different bowlers ticked off with a five-wicket haul for the East Zone in their quarter-final, and Mohammed Shami was not among them. Shami conceded 46 from 14 overs across two innings, but could not earn a wicket. It was Abhijit Sarkar and Anukul Roy who thwarted North East Zone with five-wicket hauls

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi fell for eight on Duleep Trophy debut and picked up two wickets as well. Sudip Gharami’s 146, followed by Shahbaz Ahmed’s 167, took East Zone to a healthy 467. Shahbaz also scalped three wickets in the first innings and another in the second.

Neither North East Zone batter got a half-century as they were dismantled for 111 and 146. Led by Ishan Kishan, East Zone secured victory by an innings and 210 runs to set up their semi-final against the Central Zone, from August 30.

Image credits: BCCI Domestic

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