The first semi-final of the Duleep Trophy 2025 is going strong in Bengaluru! South Zone put North Zone on the backfoot from day one. South Zone scored a mammoth 536 runs in 169.2 overs in their first innings.
North Zone are yet to come out to bat, and at stumps they are 0/0. This is Day 2 of the game, and North Zone won the toss and chose to bowl first. But South’s batsmen destroyed their strategy.
Talking about South Zone’s batting, Narayan Jagadeesan did wonders. He scored 197 runs in 352 balls, which included 16 fours and 2 sixes. His innings put South in a strong position. Devdutt Padikkal scored 57 runs in 71 balls, which included 7 fours.
Ricky Bhui played an innings of 54 runs, in which he hit 3 fours and 2 sixes. Tanay Tyagarajan also strengthened the team by scoring 58 runs in 116 balls.
Tanmay Agarwal scored 43, Salman Nijar 29, and Gurjapanit Singh added 29 runs. Captain Mohammad Azharuddin got out cheaply after scoring 11 runs. Mohit Kale scored 15 and V Kaushik scored 11 runs, while MD Nidhish remained unbeaten on 2 runs.
Duleep Trophy 2025, SZ vs NZ: Explosive twist!
South also got 30 extra runs, which included 4 byes, 8 leg-byes, 16 no-balls and 2 wides. Overall, South scored 536/10, which is no less than a mountain for North. Among the bowlers of North Zone, Nishant Sindhu did the most amazing.
He took 5 wickets for 125 runs in 47.2 overs. Anshul Kamboj took 2 wickets for 67 runs in 24 overs. Mayank Dagar and Sahil Lotra took 1 wicket each, but the rest of the bowlers like Aaqib Nabi, Yudhvir Singh Charak and Ayush Badoni could not make much impact.
Talking about the wickets falling, Tanmay Agarwal was out at 103, Padikkal at 231, Mohit Kale at 260, Azharuddin at 298, Jagadeesan at 385, Bhui at 421, Nizar at 453, Gurjpaneet at 516, Tyagarajan at 528 and Kaushik at 536. South’s batting put North under complete pressure.
Now it is North Zone’s turn to bat, but South’s bowlers like Gurjpaneet Singh, V Kaushik and MD Nidhish are ready.
