Duleep Trophy semifinal, 2026: South Zone make crucial inroads; take upper hand

For parts of Day 3 of the Duleep Trophy semifinal game between South Zone and North Zone at the Centre of Excellence, the latter put on a gritty show. Ayush Doseja (52 runs) and Sanat Sangwan (76 runs) held fort to give North hopes of making a comeback. However, at the right juncture, MD Nidheesh and Shreyas Gopal took three wickets between them to put the opponents in trouble. At close of play, North Zone were 256/7, in front by 139.

When play commenced on Day 3, Tilak Varma (116 not out) and Kavuri Saiteja extended South Zone’s total to 312 before Saiteja was removed by Abid Mushtaq. The salient feature of Tilak’s batting was how he waited for North Zone’s pacers to bowl on his pads, while when Gurnoor Brar offered width, he just guided it to third man.

North Zone, behind by 117 after the first innings, lost the wicket of Qamran Iqbal early in the innings. Doseja and Sangwan then steadied the innings with a stand of 104. Sangwan, not picked for the opening game, bided his time and waited for the bowlers to bowl on his pads.

Ultimately, Vidwath Kaverappa removed Doseja, with the batter edging one behind. South Zone then had a bit of a scare after Kaverappa got injured while bowling.

It came down to Nidheesh and Shreyas Gopal to ensure that South wouldn’t feel the absence of their pace spearhead. The duo did the job by removing Abdul Samad, Kanhaiya Wadhawan and Abid Mushtaq. In the nick of time, Anshul Kamboj and Nishant Sindhu added an undefeated 47-run alliance to take the lead to 139 runs. North would need at least another 50-60 to feel confident of forcing a result in their favour.

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