Task cut out for South Zone after Central’s mammoth finish

Duleep Trophy Final: Central Zone Dominate

Central Zone finished their first innings with a mammoth 511, giving them a commanding 362-run lead over South Zone.

Yash Rathod and Saransh Jain continued their impressive partnership from the previous day, frustrating the South Zone bowlers. Saransh, who had already taken five wickets, reached his fifty, while Rathod surpassed 150. Their sixth-wicket stand looked set to reach 200 before Saransh was dismissed attempting a reverse sweep. Deepak Chahar then added some late fireworks with a few sixes in his 37. Rathod missed out on a double century, falling for 194 to Gurjapneet Singh. The tail quickly followed, but the damage was already done.

South Zone responded with a better batting performance in their second innings. Tanmay Agarwal and Mohit Kale put on 62 for the opening wicket before Saransh broke the partnership. Smaran Ravichandran joined Agarwal, but he was soon dismissed.

Unfazed, Smaran continued to score boundaries, finding good support from Ricky Bhui. The pair batted through the remaining overs, leaving South Zone trailing by 233 runs at stumps.

Brief scores:

• South Zone 149 & 129/2 (Mohit Kale 38; Kuldeep Sen 1/22)
• Central Zone 511 (Yash Rathod 194, Rajat Patidar 101; Gurjapneet Singh 4/124)