The 2025 Duleep Trophy final began on Thursday (September 11). Here's the round-up of the action from day one.
Kumar Kartikeya, Saransh Jain take nine wickets between them on day one
South Zone and Central Zone both had multiple changes from their semi-final matches, thanks to players being called up to represent India A. South brought in batters Ravichandran Smaran and C Andre Siddarth and spinner Ankit Sharma to replace Devdutt Padikkal, N Jagadeesan and Tanay Thyagarajan while Central had Kumar Kartikeya, Kuldeep Sen, Akshay Wadkar and Aditya Thakare in for Harsh Dubey, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Thakur and Aayush Pandey.
Final, South Zone vs Central Zone
vs
- Ball by ball Over
Central skipper Rajat Patidar surprisingly opted to field first, in a tournament that had seen first-innings totals in excess of 400 in each match. Saying at the toss that the grass cover prompted the decision, Patidar may have been disheartened as his quicks toiled away for the first 90 minutes or so without reward.
Read more: Ravichandran Smaran: A future all-format star in the making
Respite came in the form of left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya, who struck in his very first over as Mohit Kale attempted a hoick across the line, only for his stumps to be disturbed. Bowling in tandem with offie Saransh Jain, Kartikeya choked the run flow and eventually got a second wicket when R Smaran mis-timed a sweep shot straight up in the air.
Central were gifted their third wicket when Tanmay Agarwal was stranded after crashing into batting partner Ricky Bhui midway through a second run. Kartikeya struck again before lunch, cleaning up South captain Mohammed Azharuddeen with a peach to leave them 57-4. If the first session belonged to him, the second was for Saransh.
The off-spinner trapped Bhui lbw almost immediately after the break, before an ill-advised dance down the wicket saw Andre Siddarth stumped. Saransh then removed Salman Nizar, courtesy of a brilliant reflex catch from Patidar. Kartikeya accounted for No.9 Gurjapneet Singh before Saransh duly got rid of Ankit Sharma and MD Nidheesh to bowl South out for 149. This was his second five-for in a row, and his third in as many first-class games, stretching back to last season.
Central's reply with the bat was equally clinical. Openers Akshay Wadkar, batting out of position at the top of the order, and Danish Malewar put on 50 runs in 19 overs before stumps were called due to bad light.
Image credit: BCCI / JioHotstar
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