Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], July 9 : The final of the Duleep Trophy 2023 is set between South Zone and West Zone for Wednesday after West Zone had a draw with Central Zone and qualified on basis of their first innings lead and South Zone beat North Zone by two wickets during Saturday's semifinals.
In the first semifinal, West Zone took on Central Zone. Electing to bat first, West Zone was bundled out for 220 in 92.5 overs. While stars including Cheteshwar Pujara (28), Suryakumar Yadav (7) and Sarfaraz Khan (0) crumbled under the initial pace assault of Central Zone and sunk to 65/5, knocks from Atit Sheth (74 in 129 balls) and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (39 in 91 balls) helped WZ reach a decent total.
Shivam Mavi (6/44) was the pick of the bowlers for CZ. Avesh Khan, Yash Thakur and Saurabh Kumar also got a wicket each.
In their first innings, CZ was bundled out for just 128 runs. Knocks from Rinku Singh (48 in 69 balls) and Dhruv Jurel (46 in 55 balls), the two stars of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 stars, helped CZ save their faces. Arzan Nagwaswalla (5/74) and Atit Sheth (3/27) were key reasons why West Zone got a 98-run first innings lead.
In their second innings, WZ put on a better performance and was bundled out for 297 runs. Pujara (133 in 278 balls) hit his 60th first-class cricket century while Suryakumar (52 in 58 balls) also shined with the bat.
Saransh Jain (4/56) and Saurabh Kumar (4/84) were impressive with the ball for CZ. But WZ took a 389-run lead, setting a 390-run target for their opponents.
Chasing 390, CZ ended the match at 128/4, with Amandeep Khare (27*) and Upendra Yadav (18*) unbeaten. Rinku Singh (40 in 30 balls) and Dhruv Jurel (25) also played decent knocks. Arzan Nagwaswalla (1/21) was the pick of the bowlers for WZ. The match ended in a draw and WZ advanced on the basis of first innings lead.
Atith Seth won 'Player of the Match' for his 74-run knock and took four wickets in the match.
In the second semifinal, North Zone took on South Zone.
South put NZ to bat first and they were bundled out for 198 runs in the first innings. Punjab Kings (PBKS) IPL star Prabhsimran Singh (49 in 52 balls), Ankit Kumar (33 in 70 balls) and Harshit Rana (31 in 22 balls) played some crucial knocks for North Zone.
Vidwath Kaverappa (5/28) was the pick of the bowlers for South Zone. Vijaykumar Vyshak, Washington Sundar and Sai Kishore took one wicket as well.
In their first innings, South was bundled out for 195 runs. Indian opener Mayank Agarwal (76 in 115 balls) and Mumbai Indians (MI) star Tilak Varma (46 in 101 balls) led SZ's batting with their resilient knocks. SZ trailed by three runs in the match.
Jayant Yadav (3/38) and Vaibhav Arora (3/57) were the pick of the bowlers for NZ. Harshit Rana and Baltej Singh also took two wickets.
In their second innings, NZ was all out for 211 runs. Prabhsimran (63 in 93 balls) once again impressed for NZ with the bat while Harshit (38 in 36 balls), Ankit Kalsi (29 in 29 balls) offered him enough support.
Vyshak was the pick of the bowlers for South with 5/76. Sai Kishore also got three wickets and Kaverappa took two scalps. NZ led by 214 runs and set 215 for the win to South.
In their run-chase, South got more than enough support from Mayank (54 in 57 balls) and Hanuma Vihari (43 in 42 balls). Other knocks from Ricky Bhui (34), and Tilak (25) ensured SZ won the match by two wickets.
Harshit Rana (3/84) was the best bowler for North. Baltej and Vaibhav also took two wickets.
Mayank won the 'Player of the Match' for his double half-centuries.
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