The Central Zone and South Zone make it to the final after boring draws

The Central Zone and South Zone make it to the final after boring draws

Duleep Trophy 2025 Semifinal: South Zone secured their place in the Duleep Trophy final against Central Zone by virtue of their first-innings lead, capitalizing on favorable bowling conditions to dismiss North Zone. The Central Zone also advanced, their match against the West Zone ending in a draw. The final is set to begin on September 11.

South Zone vs North Zone

With Gurjapneet Singh taking four wickets, South Zone dismissed North Zone for 361 runs in their first innings on Day 4, securing their spot in the final. Since a clear win was no longer possible, N Jagadeesan scored an unbeaten 52 as South Zone finished with 95 runs for 1 wicket before both team captains agreed to a draw.

Starting the day with 278 runs for 5 wickets, after losing two wickets to run outs the previous day, South Zone took control on Sunday. Shubham Khajuriya, who was not out overnight with a century, was bowled out by V Koushik early in the day.

Mayank Dagar tried to fight back with the lower-order batsmen, but South Zone kept taking wickets consistently. M Nidheesh took two wickets, including Dagar's, leaving North Zone 175 runs short of South Zone's first innings total.

Brief Scores: South Zone 538 (N Jagadeesan 197; Nishant Sidhu 5-125) & 95/1 (N Jagadeesan 52) drew with North Zone 361 (SHubham Khajuriya 128; Gurjapneet Singh 4-96)

West Zone vs Central Zone

Saransh Jain took five wickets, but Central Zone couldn't secure a win on the last day against West Zone. However, since they had a lead after the first innings on the second-to-last day, Central Zone qualified for the final, and there were no serious threats to that outcome on Sunday.

Starting the day at 556 for 8, Saransh scored an unbeaten 63 and helped the ninth wicket partnership reach 42 before his team was all out for 600. While none of the batters scored a century, six of them managed to get half-centuries.

In response, West Zone didn't try to chase a win, even though Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a fast 64. Tanush Kotian, who moved up to number 5, scored an unbeaten 40, but the other batters didn't make significant contributions, even though West managed to surpass the first innings deficit. Harsh Dubey took three wickets, and Central's spinners caused all eight dismissals.

Brief Scores: West Zone 438 (Ruturaj Gaikwad 184; Harsh Dubey 3-118) & 216/8 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 64; Saransh Jain 5-84) drew with Central Zone 600 (Shubham Sharma 96; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 4-130)