South Zone Stages Remarkable Comeback Against North Zone in Duleep Trophy Semifinals
South Zone walked into the second morning under a cloud. At 40 for 2 chasing North Zone’s 195, they had the platform. Within an hour, it lay in pieces.
Gurnoor Brar tore through the top order. He knocked over the overnight hope, N Jagadeesan, then ripped out two more in a burst that left South reeling at 80 for 5. From a position of quiet control, they suddenly stared at a deficit of more than 100 and a semifinal slipping away.
North had the game by the collar. One more wicket and the lower order would be exposed to a hard, newish ball and a bowling unit sensing blood.
Instead, the match turned.
Tilak Varma and Shreyas Gopal came together with South in ruins and batted as if the scoreboard didn’t exist. They settled, then dug in. Over by over, the pair drained North’s energy, pushing the field back, nudging, driving, and refusing to offer a way in.
The partnership grew. Fifty overs came and went with the same two names on the board. North’s seamers, so menacing in the morning, were forced into longer spells; the spinners probed but found only half-chances and frustration. The game’s tempo slowed to the rhythm Varma and Gopal dictated.
Both moved into the 80s. Both looked destined for hundreds that would be talked about for years in this competition. The stand had swelled to 175, the deficit long erased, the lead building, when Arshdeep Singh finally broke through. He removed Gopal for 88, a vital strike that at least stemmed the flow.
Varma, though, refused to let the innings sag. Partners came and went at the other end, but he held the line and completed a richly earned century, the innings’ anchor and its statement of intent rolled into one.
By stumps, South Zone had turned a crisis into command. From 80 for 5, they walked off with a lead of 90 and one wicket still in hand, the scoreboard now reflecting the resilience that had defined their day.
Central Zone vs East Zone
On the other side of the draw, East Zone let a golden chance slip.
Chasing Central Zone’s 266, they began like a side intent on blowing the game open. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi launched into the new ball, treating it like a white-ball powerplay. Seven times he cleared the ropes, hammering an opening stand that rattled along to 161 and left Central’s bowlers searching for answers.
He raced towards a hundred, owning the afternoon. Then, on 92, it stopped.
Harsh Dubey, the left-arm spinner who had been forced to absorb the early punishment, landed the breakthrough. Sooryavanshi fell eight short of a century that would have defined the innings. Dubey then struck again next ball, removing Kumar Kushagra and ripping open the top order just as East looked set to disappear into the distance.
Abhimanyu Easwaran tried to restore calm. His 39-run stand with Sudip Gharami hinted at a reset, a return to the control East had shown at the start. It never fully arrived. Once Central’s bowlers sensed a crack, they kicked the door down.
Dubey, Aryan Pandey and Yash Thakur combined to trigger a collapse that East will struggle to explain. From a position of dominance, they lost their last eight wickets for just 66 runs, handing back every ounce of advantage they had carved out in that blistering opening stand.
The effect was brutal. Instead of striding into a first-innings lead, East found themselves level with Central, the match reset and stripped of its early narrative. The semifinal had become a straight second-innings shootout.
Central, though, failed to seize that reset.
Their second dig began with a familiar sense of jeopardy. Mukesh Kumar struck early, breaking the opening stand before it could settle. Between those blows, Mohammed Shami produced his own moment, removing Aryan Juyal. Mukesh then returned to castle Rajat Patidar for just 5, a key wicket and a psychological dent.
By the close, Central had stumbled to 43 for 3, the scoreboard reflecting a day of wild swings and wasted positions. With both semifinals finely balanced and neither batting unit entirely convincing, the next session will not just decide who survives, but who can be trusted when the pressure tightens again.
