Duleep Trophy 2025: Pacers deliver it for South Zone

Bengaluru: South Zone fast bowlers were right on the money on the final morning of their Duleep Trophy semifinal against North Zone as they gained the all-important first-innings lead to set up a title clash against Central Zone here on Sunday.

Resuming on 278/5, North Zone’s hopes of surpassing South Zone’s daunting 536 hinged largely on how long overnight centurion Shubham Khajuria can bat and if the lower middle order can show the stomach for a fight. But the moment pacer V Koushik castled the Jammu and Kashmir batter’s stumps in the second over of the day, the writing was on the wall for North and they never recovered from there to be shot out for 361 in 100.1 overs at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence. The game meandering towards a draw, South Zone made the final by virtue of their first-innings lead.

The final between South Zone, who last won the title in 2023, and Central Zone, who batted out West Zone in the other semifinal, will be held at the same venue from Sept 11-15.  

Although South were in an advantageous position at having scythed through half of North on the penultimate day, the job still had to be done on Sunday, especially with Khajuria (128) out in the middle. South, however, got what they wanted in the morning, overcast conditions that offered some help for the pacers on an otherwise benign pitch.

Military medium Koushik, known for his wicket-to-wicket bowling with the uncanny ability to force batters into errors, did exactly that with his third ball. He got the ball to swing in, beating the defences of a shell-shocked Khajuria to give South the start they envisioned. After that, the impressive Gurjanpreet Singh (4/96) and MD Nidheesh (3/82) took over to rattle North.

The plan from the duo was simple: bowl largely short lines and the pitch one up. The ploy was to peg North batters on their back foot and then flummox them with the full ball. It worked well as the next two batters — Sahil Lotra and Mayank Dagar — were bowled by Nidheesh, the lack of footwork evident in the dismissals. South Zone then rolled over North 45 minutes before lunch, that confirmed their place in the final.

South Zone skipper Mohammed Azharuddeen hailed his pacers for bowling to a plan. “It is a very flat wicket, but still I would say there was something for the fast bowlers. Especially when they are hitting the seam, it was moving in and out. One thing was we needed to be really patient. Bowlers did really well there. They were very disciplined.”

Central dominate 

Central Zone almost threatened to demolish a star-studded West Zone before agreeing to a truce on the stroke of tea in the other semifinal.

Having already taken a 118-run first-innings lead on the third day itself and resuming on 556/8, Central’s spot in the final was a foregone conclusion unless something dramatic happened. The game did offer some thrill when Central, after being bowled out for 600, had West in deep trouble at 168/6 midway through the second session.

But Tanush Kotian bailed West out with a typically gutsy unbeaten 40, forging a 37-run stand for the seventh wicket with Tushar Deshpande (12). Although Central Zone hit back by reducing West to 216/8, they decided to shake hands on the stroke of tea to conserve their energy for the final.

Brief scores: South Zone: 536 & 95/1 in 24.4 overs (N Jagadeesan 52 n.o.) drew with North Zone (O/n: 278/5): 361 all out in 100.1 overs (Shubham Khajuria 128, Ayush Badoni 40, Nishant Sindhu 82, Mayank Dagar 31; MD Nidheesh 3-82, Gurjapneet Singh 4-96). Result: South advanced to the final by virtue of first innings lead. PoM: N Jagadeesan.

West Zone: 438 & 216/8 in 53.3 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 64, Aarya Desai 35, Tanush Kotian 40 n.o.; Harsh Dubey 3-96, Saransh Jain 5-84) drew with Central Zone (556/8): 600 all out in 164.3 overs (Aayush Pandey 40, Danish Malewar 76, Shubham Sharma 96, Rajat Patidar 77, Upendra Yadav 87, Harsh Dubey 75, Saransh Jain 63 n.o., Deepak Chahar 33; Arzan Nagaswalla 3-57, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 4-130). Result: Central advanced to the final by virtue of first innings lead. PoM: Saransh Jain.

Final: South Zone vs Central Zone (Sept 11-15, BCCI’s CoE).

Thakur calls for sporting pitches

West Zone skipper Shardul Thakur on Sunday called for more sporting pitches especially at BCCI's Centre of Excellence where a lot of domestic games is expected to be played in the future reports Sidney Kiran from Bengaluru. "So there was not much for fast bowlers. And it's always going to be a sort of complaint when we play domestic cricket across the country that we don't get enough pitches where fast bowlers could come and bowl 40 overs in a game. So being a fast bowler just on a hindsight I expect that there should be more pitches where the game is even for fast bowlers for batters and spinners. A true sporting pitch what I would call it" said Thakur.