Spinner tanay thyagarajan

BCCI COE Ground: South Zone have secured a place in the 2025/26 Duleep Trophy final after claiming a crucial first-innings lead in their semi-final against North Zone at the BCCI COE Ground 1 on Sunday.

South Zone’s progression into the final comes on the back of vice-captain and wicketkeeper-batter N Jagadeesan playing knocks of 197 and 52 not out, while pacer Gurjapneet Singh’s incisive spell of 4-96 along with Nidheesh MD’s 3-82 ensured North Zone were bowled out for 361 in 100.1 overs to give his team a lead of 175 runs.

In the morning, South Zone struck quickly as V Koushik castled centurion Shubham Khajuria for 128. After the early setback, Sahil Lotra and Mayank Dagar counterattacked with positive intent to share a partnership of 47 runs off 60 balls. Lotra survived a run-out scare when a direct hit from Jagadeesan narrowly missed the stumps after the duo had a mix-up.