The epic partnership between Tilak Varma and Shreyas Gopal saw South Zone come back in style to secure a first innings lead against North Zone in the Duleep Trophy semi-final. South Zone, which was 40/2 from stumps on the opening day in response to North Zone’s 195, started poorly. Set-hitter N Jagadeesan was stopped by Gurnoor Brar before the fielder batted in quick succession again to take two more wickets to reduce South Zone to 80/5.
Northern Province were clearly favorites to come out on top in the first round at that stage given they were comfortably ahead by over 100 points. However, Gopal and Varma joined together at a crucial stage to save their team from trouble. The duo batted for over 50 runs to frustrate the North Zone bowling attack given that another wicket at that stage would likely have given them a chance.
At one stage, both batsmen were on course to reach triple figures before Arshdeep Singh finally ended the mammoth 175-run stand with Gopal departing for 88. However, Varma went on to complete his century despite continuing to lose partners at the other end. In the end by stumps, South Zone led by 90 runs with one more wicket remaining to add to the tally.
In the other semi-final, Eastern Province wasted a great opportunity to take complete control of the match especially after the start they made with the bat in response to Central Province’s 266. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was in his element and put on a show by smashing seven fours in an entertaining opening partnership that yielded 161 runs. But once he left eight runs short of a century, the innings went completely off the rails.
Harsh Dubey, who dismissed Sooryavanshi, hit the next delivery as well to get rid of Kumar Kushagra. Although Abhimanyu Easwaran tried to steady the ship with a 39-run stand with Sudeep Gharami, the wickets fell in heaps after that, as Aryan Pandey, Yash Thakur and Dubey caused a stunning collapse that saw them lose their last 8 wickets for just 66 runs.
This means that both teams eliminate each other in the first rounds and the game now turns to a penalty shootout in the second round. But the Central Region’s quest to compensate for bats did not yield the desired result. Mukesh Kumar broke the opening partnership very early before dismissing Rajat Patidar for just 5. Between these two dismissals was the wicket of Aryan Goyal, which was taken by Mohammed Shami as the central area entered at stumps at a perilous 43/3.
