Duleep Trophy | Jagadeesan misses double ton but South Zone dominate

Bengaluru: N Jagadeesan missed out on a deserved double century due to a horrible mix-up with Ricky Bhui, but South Zone continued to call the shots against North Zone on the second day of their Duleep Trophy semifinal here on Friday.

Leaving from where he left off on Thursday, Tamil Nadu’s Jagadeesan, batting on 148 overnight, once again dominated the North Zone bowlers on a benign surface at the BCCI Centre of Excellence on the outskirts of the city. Despite the dismissal of skipper Mohammed Azharuddeen off the second ball of the day, Jagadeesan and Bhui batted with authority, and the duo looked on course to bury North under an avalanche of runs.

However, against the run of play in the penultimate over before lunch, disaster struck Jagadeesan. Bhui cut the ball to point and called for a quick single. Jagadeesan was off the blocks in a flash, but to his shock, Bhui stopped and turned back after the initial few strides. By the time Jagadeesan looked up, he was within handshaking distance of Bhui, who had retreated back to his crease to save himself. North Zone bowler Mayank Dagar whipped the bails off at the non-striker’s end, leaving a livid Jagadeesan berating Bhui.

Despite the moment of brain fade, Bhui didn’t allow North a way back into the game, as his 54 off 131 balls and an equally gritty 58 off 116 balls from No. 8 Tanay Thyagarajan saw South Zone post a strong 536 all out in 169.2 overs when stumps were called.

Central hit back

In the other semifinal, Saransh Jain (3/121) and Harsh Dubey (3/118) bagged three wickets apiece, and Danish Malewar (76) and Shubham Sharma (60 not out) then scored composed half-centuries as Central Zone look primed to take the all-important first innings lead against West Zone.

Central Zone first bowled well to shoot out West Zone for 438 in 108 overs. Resuming on 363/6 with the dangerous Tanush Kotian (76) in the middle, West suffered a late implosion and folded up for a seemingly below-par total. Central then batted with discipline to reach 229/2 at stumps with Shubham and Rajat Patidar (47 n.o.) looking good. 

Brief scores: South Zone (O/n: 297/3): 536 all out in 169.2 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 43, Narayan Jagadeesan 197, Devdutt Padikkal 57, Ricky Bhui 54, Salman Nizar 29, Tanay Thygarajan 58, Gurjapneet Singh 29; Anshul Kamboj 2-67, Nishant Sindhu 5-125) vs North Zone.

West Zone (O/n: 363/6): 438 all out in 108 overs (Aarya Desai 39, Ruturaj Gaikwad 184, Shreyas Iyer 25, Tanush Kotian 76, Shardul Thakur 64; Khaleel Ahmed 2-82, Saransh Jain 3-121, Harsh Dubey 3-118) vs Central Zone: 229/2 in 67 overs (Aayush Pandey 40, Danish Malewar 76, Shubham Sharma 60 n.o., Rajat Patidar 47 n.o.).