Duleep Trophy: Defending champion West Zone qualifies for record 34th final on rain-hit final day

Well-deserved: Atit Sheth, who top-scored for West in the first innings, was named the player of the match.
| Photo Credit: File photo: K. PICHUMANI

West Zone marked its date with history as it entered a record-extending 34th Duleep Trophy final after surging past Central Zone by virtue of its first-innings lead on a rain-marred final day of the semifinal at the Alur (1) cricket ground here on Saturday.

A win in the final next week will take the defending champion West to 19 titles and give it the sole lead for most Duleep Trophy titles, moving it past North Zone.

Earlier in the morning, West’s second innings didn’t last long as Saransh Jain dismissed Yuvrajsinh Dodiya for his fourth wicket of the innings.

Central hopes of chasing down West’s mammoth target were quashed as it lost its openers early.

Himanshu Mantri was the first to depart after he edged Arzan Nagwaswalla to Sarfaraz Khan at gully. First-change bowler Atit Sheth then had left-handed batter Vivek Singh caught behind.

Dhruv Jurel, who came in at three, looked assured against the West pacers. He left the ball judiciously and wasn’t afraid to bring out the pull shot when they attacked him with short balls.

The Central batter, though, gave away his wicket after he tried to take on Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, only to be stumped by wicketkeeper Het Patel,

Rinku Singh, who came in next, gave some life to the innings. The southpaw played some expansive shots as he raced to 40 off 30 balls before lunch. But, his blitzkrieg ended the first ball of the second session as his attempted big hit off Dodiya failed to clear Nagwaswalla at mid-on.

Upendra Yadav and Amandeep Khare were out in the middle for Central, when the sky opened up, leading to tea being taken early. Soon enough handshakes were exchanged as both teams agreed on a draw, granting West a passage to the final.

The scores:

West Zone — 1st innings: 220.

Central Zone — 1st innings: 128.

West Zone — 2nd innings: Prithvi Shaw b Yash 25, Priyank Panchal b Saurabh 15, Cheteshwar Pujara run out Saransh 133, Suryakumar Yadav c Khare b Saurabh 52, Sarfaraz Khan c Upendra b Saurabh 6, Het Patel c Khare b Saransh 27, Atit Sheth lbw b Saransh 9, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja c Rinku b Saransh 9, Chintan Gaja c Jurel b Saurabh 4, Arzan Nagwaswalla (not out) 1; Extras (b-3, lb-1, w-6, nb-1): 11; Total (in 93.2 overs): 297.

Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-40, 3-135, 4-150, 5-197, 6-213, 7-245, 8-266, 9-292.

Central bowling: Shivam Mavi 10-0-57-0, Avesh Khan 14-2-61-0, Yash Thakur 12-3-35-1, Saurabh Kumar 29-4-84-4, Saransh Jain 28.2-10-56-4.

Central Zone — 2nd innings: Himanshu Mantri c Sarfaraz b Nagwaswalla 4, Vivek Singh c Patel b Sheth 9, Dhruv Jurel st. Patel b Jadeja 25, Amandeep Khare (not out) 27, Rinku Singh c Nagwaswalla b Dodiya 40, Upendra Yadav (not out) 18; Extras (lb-5): 5; Total (for four wkts. in 35 overs): 128

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-17, 3-55, 4-101.

West Zone bowling: Nagwaswalla 8-2-21-1, Gaja 8-2-24-0, Sheth 8-1-32-1, Jadeja 7-0-31-1, Dodiya 4-0-16-1.

PoM: Atit Sheth.