Duleep Trophy: Five-star Nabi helps North Zone to 175-run lead; NE Zone trail Central by 364 runs

Jammu and Kashmir all-rounder Auqib Nabi produced a stunning debut spell, taking four wickets in four balls and completing a five-for, as North Zone grabbed a commanding 175-run lead over East Zone on day two of the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal at the BCCI COE Ground 1 in Bengaluru on Friday.

Nabi’s burst reduced East from 200/4 to 223/9 before they were bowled out for 230 in 56.1 overs. He became only the fourth bowler in first-class cricket to achieve the rare feat.

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Earlier, East Zone spinner Manishi starred with stunning figures of 6/111 to dismiss North Zone for 405. Kanhaiya Wadhawan made 76, while Nabi chipped in with 44, striking five fours and two sixes before falling to Manishi.

In reply, East lost early wickets to Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana before Virat Singh and Kumar Kushagra steadied the innings with a 74-run stand. But Nabi turned the game in the 53rd over, removing Virat Singh, Manishi, and Mukhtar Hussain in successive deliveries to complete a hat-trick. He struck again first ball of the next over, by getting Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal caught behind to make it four in four, and later trapped Mohammed Shami to seal his five-for.

At stumps, North Zone held a strong grip on the contest with a big lead and momentum firmly on their side.

North East Zone trail Central by 364 runs

In the other quarterfinal being held at the BCCI CEG Ground B, North East Zone squandered a promising start at 128/2, slipping to 168/7 after losing five wickets for just eight runs, and now trail Central Zone’s massive 532/4 declared by 364 runs.

At stumps on Day 2, Ankur Malik headed back after scoring an entertaining 31 along with Palzor Tamang (3 not out) as Vidarbha medium pacer Aditya Thakare (3/23) and Maharashtra left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey (2/10) exposed the vulnerabilities of the NE batters to account for five wickets between them.

Earlier in the day, Central Zone resumed their innings from 432/2 with young Vidarbha batter Danish Malewar completing his maiden First Class double century before retiring out on 203. Yash Rathod was unbeaten at 87 off 108 balls, while Shubham Sharma contributed 34 runs before Rajat Patidar decided to declare the Central Zone innings.