The 2025 Duleep Trophy final began on Thursday (September 11). Here's the round-up of the action from day three.
Central began the day at 384-5, having already secured a 235-run first-innings lead. All-rounder Saransh Jain, who took a five-wicket haul earlier, scored three runs to reach his second fifty on the trot; against West Zone in the semi-finals, he hit an unbeaten 63.
His batting partner, Yash Rathod, having resumed on 137, pushed on to score his second first-class 150. His previous was a match-winning 151 against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy semi-final in February.
Together, Rathod and Jain put on 176 off 351 balls for the sixth wicket. Earlier on day two, Rathod was also involved in another massive partnership – a 167-run partnership with Rajat Patidar, who also scored a century.
Central Zone batter Yash Rathod played a magnificent knock of 194 on the big stage 🔥
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) September 13, 2025
Watch 📽️ snippets of his innings 👌 🔽
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/unz0hJ66yE#DuleepTrophy | #Final | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/cXyQ3dR9aF
After Jain was the first wicket to fall on the third day for a 193-ball 69, Central Zone slipped to 442-6. Rathod pushed on and looked destined for a maiden double century when Gurjapneet Singh – the pick of the South Zone bowlers on day two – breached his defence, dismissing him just six runs short. His knock of 194 came from 286 balls and included 17 fours and two sixes.
Deepak Chahar frustrated the South Zone bowlers with a 49-ball 37 from No.8 before Ankit Sharma finally got the better of him. Ankit then cleaned up the remaining two tail-enders, with Central finishing at 511 to secure a massive 362-run first-innings lead. Both Ankit (4-180) and Gurjapneet (4-124) took four wickets.
South's second innings got off to a shaky start. They suffered an early blow when Saransh Jain trapped opener Mohit Kale lbw for 38. From a comfortable position of 62-0, they slipped to 76-2 after Kuldeep Sen struck next, clean bowling Tanmay Agarwal for 26. Ravichandran Smaran (37) and Ricky Bhui (26) then steadied the ship, putting on an unbeaten 53-run partnership to guide South to stumps at 129-2 without any further damage.
Final, South Zone vs Central Zone
vs
- Ball by ball Over
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