Riyan Parag helps East maul West in a one-sided contest

After getting hammered at the hands of South Zone the other afternoon, East Zone had to prove their worth to enter the final here at Cricket Association of Puducherry (CAP) Ground 2. Abhimanyu Easwaran got his side off to a great start with sumptuous boundaries – five fours and one six. Utkarsh Singh, who returned to the setup, too, was in some form at the other end.

But soon after the tenth over, Easwaran was adjudged out to Arzan Nagwaswalla off a down-the-leg-side delivery, with the right-hander walking out disappointed with the decision. Virat Singh joined hands with Utkarsh, and the two put on a 64-run stand, with West introducing the likes of Shivam Dube and Rahul Tripathi into the attack.

That over from Tripathi changed things, as East collected 14 runs off the over. Immediately after reaching 50, Utkarsh was undone by a brute of a delivery from Shams Mulani, walking back to the hut on 123/2. Rishav Das didn’t last too long either when he ran a non-existent single before being run-out.

At 157/5, East’s memories against South started haunting them. That was when the much-awaited Riyan Parag joined hands with 18-year-old Kumar Kushagra. Every Parag run was met with vociferous applause, but the duo hardly got away any delivery to the rope before the 37th over of the innings. From thereon, the boundaries never stopped.

If Kushagra was timing it exquisitely, Parag muscled the delivery a long way to leave the West Zone perplexed. Till his half-century, Parag mixed caution with aggression, but once he crossed the milestone, it was a true T20 masterclass as the ball flew across at the venue with sumptuous power.

Together, the duo added 150 runs for the sixth-wicket partnership and ensured that any remaining hope of West Zone entering the final would be quashed. Parag eventually got to his century in the penultimate over of the innings as the crowd kept chanting his name.

With Priyank Panchal walking away with an ankle injury earlier, Harvik Desai had to find a partner in Samarth Vyas. At 32/0, with runs coming free-flowing against the new ball, all eyes were on Akash Deep. Akash’s express pace and the slight movement off the pitch sent Vyas packing. But the real damage was done later by Manishankar Mura Singh, who picked up a five-wicket haul. 

Mura Singh first removed Rahul Tripathi via a dubious LBW decision before he cleaned up Sarfaraz Khan. There was a slight hope when the umpires had asked Sarfaraz to halt, but all those hopes, alongside West’s hopes, came crashing down when the Mumbaikar started walking back to the dressing room, with East celebrating the wicket.

From thereon, the non-existent middle order combined with the lower order did almost no damage to the East bowlers as Harvik stood tall with the bat. The Saurashtra man waged a lone battle and smashed a run-a-ball 92 before eventually becoming the last batter to get dismissed. Even though Panchal walked out to help Harvik get to his century, it was all in vain, making East Zone the other finalists with a 157-run win.

North thrash listless North East Zone

Whilst a virtual semi-final was on at Ground 2, North Zone were tasked with a slightly easier fixture in the form of North East Zone. North East won the toss and elected to bat first, considering how the conditions have become trickier for the teams to chase. 

But the duo of Vaibhav Arora and Rishi Dhawan reduced them to 12/2 as Palzor and Ashish Thapa walked back to the hut. Lerry and Langlonyamba put on a 39-run stand tackling the tough new-ball challenge, and the introduction of Mayank Markande into the attack made a crucial difference.

Markande, who was on the receiving end of some brutal hits from Shivam Dube the other night, sparked a collapse alongside Mayank Yadav. The left-arm spinner dismissed Priyojit and Kamsha Yangfo in a span of two deliveries as North East Zone had a glimpse of what was about to hit them.

The spin trio of Markande, Yadav and Nishant Sindhu ensured that North East’s innings weren’t taking further flight, as they restricted them to just 101 after 32 overs of play. The result was inevitable, and it took North a wicket and 13 overs to get over the line.

Shubhum Khajuria was dismissed early when he was run-out before Prabhsimran Singh and Himanshu Rana took the North side over the line with nine wickets to spare.

Sai Sudharsan makes life easy for South

After losing Mayank Agarwal early on in the innings, retired hurt, South were in a spot of bother, having been set a target of 262. But with Sai Sudharsan in the team, who walked in only the last game when Devdutt Padikkal was injured, South had nothing to worry about. 

Truth be told, they didn't even shed a single sweat at the end of their run-chase, which showed the calibre of the talented Southpaw from Tamil Nadu. Whilst not being the most powerful or fearsome of hitters, what Sai did was an extension of classical cricket - fours. 

He mixed aggression with some great running in between the wickets, as the likes of Rohit Rayudu (37) and Washington Sundar (43*) all chipped in, with Sai ending unbeaten on 132. Earlier in the day, a brilliant spell from Koushik got South back in the game after letting Central getaway to 32 for no less. 

However, Yash Dubey's brilliant 77, combined with the cameos from Rinku Singh (26) and Upendra Yadav (26), helped Central get to 171/5 after the 37th over. From thereon, it was some destructive hitting from Shivam Mavi (38) and Saransh Jain (23) that really allowed Central to get to 261. 

South will now enter the final unbeaten in the competition, winning all their clashes. But the biggest clash of them all - the final against East Zone - awaits them on Thursday (August 3).