East Zone have sealed their passage into the Duleep Trophy semi-finals in emphatic fashion, crushing North East Zone by an innings and 210 runs in the quarter-final on the back of a mesmerising left-arm spin display and a career-best batting heroics.

Resuming their second innings on 7/0 and still 349 runs behind, North East Zone did marginally better than their first-innings collapse but could not cross 150. Reduced to 90/8 by the 35th over, they briefly threatened to stretch the contest as Pheroizam Jotin top-scored with 39 off 75 and No.10 Akash Choudhary batted 50 balls for his 27, but the tail could not withstand the relentless pressure.

Anukul Roy kept chipping away to end with a magnificent five-wicket haul, part of a combined eight-wicket share among East Zone's trio of left-arm spinners. Shahbaz Ahmed continued his dream match by dismissing opener Joseph Lalthankhuma, while Vaibhav Sooryavanshi removed Kishan Lyngdoh and Imliwati Lemtur in the same over. Behind the stumps, captain Ishan Kishan had a busy day, taking four catches and effecting a stumping.

It was Roy's seventh five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, yet it was Shahbaz who took home the Player of the Match award, following his four wickets with a superb unbeaten 167 — his career-best first-class score.

Brief scores: East Zone 467 beat North East Zone 111 & 146 (Pheroizam Jotin 39, Akash Choudhary 27; Anukul Roy 5-37, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 2-11) by an innings and 210 runs.

Late twist rocks West Zone chase

The final 33 minutes of the evening produced a late twist in the other quarter-final, as North Zone came from behind to rattle West Zone's chase with four crucial wickets. West Zone now require 67 runs with just three wickets in hand heading into the final morning.

Musheer Khan narrowly missed out on a century, but a 111-run stand with Ruturaj Gaikwad had put West Zone in cruise control midway through the third session. Momentum swung dramatically when an urge for a quick single saw Gaikwad run out for the first time in his first-class career. Until then, he had looked completely at home on a turning surface, reaching his fifty at better than a run a ball.

The run-out rewrote the script. Fewer than three overs later, Musheer fell attempting a sweep with one hand off the blade, getting a nick off the toe-end as the ball kicked and turned appreciably. Two more wickets followed, spiralling the advantage West Zone had built.

On his part, Musheer had attacked the quicks on the leg-side and launched a couple of sixes as a counter-attacking measure, while against spin he used his feet and swept as he usually does — but it was that very shot that brought his end.

Urvil Patel remains at the crease, with Shardul Thakur, Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande to come, but the manner in which Abid Mushtaq — wicketless until then — drew turn to dismiss Shams Mulani and Mukesh Choudhary means West Zone will emerge under pressure on the final morning.

Earlier, Ayush Badoni hit a fifty and Nishant Sindhu contributed 44 from No.7 as North Zone navigated a tough passage to post 222 in their second innings. Reduced to 158/7, three sixes from Anshul Kamboj helped them past 200, with Mulani and Kotian sharing eight wickets between them on a gripping, turning surface.

Brief scores: North Zone 251 & 222 (Ayush Baboni 50, Nishant Sindhu 44; Tanush Haman 4-48, Shams Mulani 4-78, Thehan 54 need) lead by 67 runs with three wickets needed vs West Zone 187 & 220/7 (Musheer Khan 96, Ruturaj Gaikwad 66; Abar Mushtaq 2-56, Sunil Kumar 1-23).