Bengaluru : Bengal Batters Shahbaz Ahmed and Sudip Gharami took East Zone dominant position on Day 1 of Duleep Trophy 2026 clash at BCCI CoE Ground 2 against North East Zone after Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s early departure.
East Zone Batting first lost both openers early for 25 runs. Teenage prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (8) departed early followed by Bengal skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (15).
Kumar Kushagra (55) scored half century and notched 92 runs partnership with Sudip Gharami (146). After Kushagra’s dismissal on 117, the middle order lost cluster of wickets. Virat Singh (2), skipper Ishan Kishan (4) all followed as East Zone were reduced to 138-5.
However, Gharami and his fellow Bengal teammate Shahbaz (100*) notched a 150 runs partnership that relieved all pressure from East Zone.
Gharami scored a commanding 146 (185) with a six and 25 boundaries, while, Shahbaz smashed an unbeaten 100*(137) with 2 sixes and 9 boundaries.
After Gharami’s dismissal on 288, Shahbaz went on to notch another 67* runs partnership with Anukul Roy (22*), as East Zone ended Day 1 on 355-6. Pheiroijam Jotin picked 3 wickets for North East Zone.
