East Zone 266 (Sooryavanshi 92, Easwaran 69, Dubey 4-66) and 162 for 6 (Sooryavanshi 40, Kishan 39*, Dubey 4-53) beat Central Zone 266 (Rinku 60, Sarkar 3-38, Mukesh 3-56) and 158 (Mokhade 41, Mukesh 4-44) by four wickets

As many as 13 wickets fell on a dramatic third day, after the first-innings scores were tied. Resuming on 45 for 3, Central were bowled out for 158 with Mukesh picking up 4 for 44 to go along with his three-for in the first innings.

Barring opener Aman Mokhade (41) and No. 8 batter Harsh Dubey (24) – caught brilliantly by Shami on his follow-through to become the ninth batter dismissed – hardly any other Central batter showed resistance.

Mukesh and Shami continued to make the new ball move both ways in helpful conditions, with Ishan Kishan, the captain, going on an all-out attack in search of wickets. Fresh off a Test cap in Sri Lanka, allrounder Saransh Jain endured a disappointing outing, managing scores of 13 and 1, as Central’s lower order caved in.

Barring an attempted reverse sweep – off Saransh’s bowling – that he missed off his sixth delivery, Sooryavanshi curbed his attacking instincts. At the ten-over mark, East were 25 without loss, with the 15-year-old taking 21 deliveries to pick up his first boundary – a six over long-off against seamer Aryan Pandey.

It wasn’t until the 14th over that Sooryavanshi looked to break free. Having hit Yash Thakur for 4, 6, 4, 4 and 0, he attempted to flick him on the up over deep midwicket for six, only to be brilliantly caught by Rajat Patidar. The Central skipper ran nearly 25 metres to his left from mid-on, and tumbled around as the swirler descended on him to complete a stunner. Sooryavanshi had made 40 of the 61 runs by then, and the tone was well and truly set.

Easwaran fell a little later, but East appeared to have put that behind and sauntered towards the target. It meant that when Harsh Dubey, the left-arm spinner, induced late panic with back-to-back wickets of Kumar Kushagra and Anukul Roy, it didn’t last for long.

With nine runs left, Sudip Gharami attempted a glory hit but top-edged his slog to be taken by Patidar, giving Saransh his first wicket of the innings.

Kishan, however, continued to bat on serenely. He pocketed a boundary with East needing five, before Shami slapped a short ball to the point boundary to seal victory. Kishan finished 39 not out, with Mukesh named Player of the Match for his match haul of 7 for 100.