- By Namrata Vijay
- Thu, 11 Sep 2025 06:52 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Duleep Trophy Final 2025: Central Zone had completely dominated the first day of the Duleep Trophy summit clash as spinners Saransh Jain and Kumar Kartikeya had rattled South Zone's batting lineup by bowling consistently on Thursday. They had shared nine wickets amongst them and had skittled South Zone out for 149 runs, and then Central batters tried to reduce the deficit as much as possible.
Saransh registered figures of 5/49 and had taken his second consecutive five-for in this tournament, whereas Kartikeya too four wickets in the 53 overs that he bowled and had helped the team rattle South's batting line-up. South, who had performed consistently in the morning session where Tanmay Agarwal and Mohit Kale were at the crease, were dismissed during the 16th over as Kartikeya had left Kale stunned with a peachy delivery.
The highlight of the first session was Tanmay Agarwal's wicket, who had scored a gritty knock of 31 runs but was run out after getting involved in a mid-pitch collision with Ichy Bhui. This only led to more troubles for them as the team suffered a batting collapse. Kartikeya had bowled the delivery of the day as he dismissed captain Mohammed Azharruddeen, whereas Andre Siddharth's mistimed shot wrapped up South's innings.
Salman Nizar's late surge went in vain, but Jain had bowled accurately and made sure that South's lower order couldn't score many runs. He took his fifth wicket and ninth overall in the two matches after bowling in 24 overs.
While chasing, Central had a flying start. Danish Malewar and Akshay Wadekar had built a brilliant partnership of 50 runs till stumps. They stayed calm, unlike South's tentativeness, and were just trailing by 99 runs with 10 wickets remaining.
Since the surface had become spinners-friendly, South Zone will have a hard time bouncing back into the match, whereas Central Zone will try to take advantage of home conditions and bat throughout on the second day.