Duleep Trophy, HIGHLIGHTS Day 2: Shaw’s 100 takes West’s lead to 259 runs vs Central Zone; North Zone 24/0, trails South by 606 runs

Duleep Trophy, Indian domestic cricket: Follow highlights, score, commentary, updates from Day 2 of the Duleep Trophy matches.

Prithvi Shaw played a pull shot for a six to bring up his century in just 88 balls. | Photo Credit: Periasamy M

Hello and welcome to HIGHLIGHTS from Sportstar’s coverage from the Duleep Trophy semifinals in Salem and Coimbatore. The news and inputs provided by our reporters on ground - Dhruva Prasad and Lalith Kalidas.

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: Stumps, Day 2: West Zone 130/3 in 29 overs: Leads by 259 runs. Shaw batting on 104 off 96 balls with Armaan Jaffer (7* off 32).

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: West Zone 128/3 in 27 overs: Pulled over deep midwicket for six and Shaw brings up his 100 off 88 balls.

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: Stumps, Day 2: North Zone 24/0 in 5 overs: Vohra (11*) and Dhull (8*) see off the day. They trail by a massive 606 runs. Nothing short of a gruelling day for Mandeep Singh’s men in Salem.

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore:West Zone 101/3 in 21.3 overs: Two slog sweeps for sixes by Shaw in the same over off Kartikeya. He moves to 81 off 69 balls.

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore:West Zone 86/3 in 17.2 overs: Rahul Tripathi is gone for a duck. He leaves outside off only for the ball to rap him on the pad. Height could have been an issue but he has to walk back and isn’t very happy. Second for Rajpoot.

Ankit Rajpoot picked his second wicket when he caught Rahul Tripathi leg before wicket. | Photo Credit: Dhruva Prasad

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: Yash Dhull and Manan Vohra at the crease for North Zone. Interesting to see Sai Kishore take the new ball upfront. Dhull creams him for a superb cover drive boundary off the third ball.

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: South Zone declares at 630/8 after 172.5 overs. Ricky Bhui reaches his 12th First Class century. Superb command over the spinners once again, despite the odd ball gripping and turning. Five overs remain in the day.

Ricky Bhui became the third South Zone batter to score a century in the first innings as the side declared at 630 runs. | Photo Credit: Lalith Kalidas

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: West Zone 82/2 in 15.5 overs: Rahane out again leaving outside off and is clean bowled by this Rajpoot delivery which seams in late. Gone for 12. Poor judgement by Rahane in the channel. First innings was out LBW leaving outside off and now is bowled in the same way. Rahul Tripathi and Prithvi Shaw at the crease should be a spectacle.

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: West Zone 79/1 in 15 overs: Second life for Shaw as he survives a close run out chance. Direct-hit at the non-striker’s and he was gone. Rahane sent him back halfway.

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: South Zone 623/8 in 166.5 overs: South Zone is eight down as Sai Kishore stumped off Pulkit’s bowling. The no. 9 is the first batter to not enter double digits.

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: West Zone 64/1 in 10 overs: Shaw brings up his 32-ball 50 with eight fours.

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: West Zone 50/1 in 8.3 overs: Rahane off the mark with a single off the 11th ball he faces. Was happy leaving balls outside off and played some with the inside half of the bat.

Pulkit Narang of North Zone celebrates after dismissing Ravi Teja during the third session. | Photo Credit: Lalith Kalidas

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: South Zone 611/7 in 163.2 overs: Ravi Teja is trapped plumb in front by Pulkit Narang. He departs for 42 in the third session as Sai Kishore walks in. South Zone is in no mood to stop its feasting.

And the action has resumed at both venues for the third session of Day 2.

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: West Zone 28/1 in 5 overs: Shaw starts off with two consecutive fours as Rajpoot strays on the pads. Venkatesh Iyer has not taken the field after being injured while batting.

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: South Zone 606/6 in 160 overs: Bhui and Ravi Teja return to the crease with 20 overs left in the day. Bhui is nearing a century as Pulkit Narang resumes the bowling for North Zone.

Tea Updates

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: Yashasvi Jaiswal is gone for 3, trapped in front by Aniket. West Zone 14/1 on Day 2, leads by 143 runs.

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: Bhui (84*) and Ravi Teja (39*) have asserted themselves on the bowlers, helping SZ rack up 132 runs in the session. The spinners have found it hard to contain runs and the absence of the injured Saini has only made things worse. South Zone 606/6 in 160 overs

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: Jaiswal off the mark after seven balls with a single off the backfoot between cover and point. He had scored a six-ball duck in the first innings. West Zone 12/0 in 3 overs

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: Sixth 50-plus partnership in the South Zone innings! Ricky Bhui and Ravi Teja pile the misery on the North Zone bowlers. Ravi Teja smacks Nishant for a six down the ground and follows it up with a cheeky reverse-sweep for four and moves to 28.

END OF INNINGS: Central Zone 128 all out. Karan Sharma’s brief flirtation with the big hits comes to an end as he is caught by Tripathi, who runs in from long-on and takes a superb diving catch at deep midwicket. West Zone reaped the rewards of the hardwork put in by Unadkat in the morning. Got three wickets early and put pressure. From then on, a poor combination of shot selection coupled with a long tail and a blow to Venkatesh didn’t help Central. West Zone leads by 129 runs.

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: Venkatesh Iyer is back on the field and is continuing with flair. Drives Atit Sheth for a four through the covers. Gets an outside edge next ball and gets four more at third man. Central Zone 103/7. However, he falls shortly after as Central Zone lose their eighth.

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: A ball after earning a reprieve at deep mid-wicket in the previous over, Gowtham holes out to North Zone skipper Mandeep Singh at short mid-wicket. Falls two short of his half-century as Ravi Teja walks in at 8. South Zone 531/6 in 142.1 overs 

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: Unpleasant scene here. Venkatesh Iyer has been hit on the shoulder as Gaja throws the defended ball back at the batter. Venkatesh is down on the ground in pain and the ambulance arrives. The stretcher was brought out but Venkatesh Iyer prefers to walk out of the field. Retires hurt on 6. It looks like the ball hit his neck.

Central Zone batter Venkatesh Iyer needed urgent medical attention during the Duleep Trophy semifinal. | Photo Credit: Dhruva Prasad

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: 500 up for South Zone in 134 overs. Gowtham and Bhui continue to punish some sloppy bowling. There is some turn on offer but the spinners have largely erred on length. All seven batters have crossed the 30-run mark for SZ.

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: Huge wicket as Rinku is outdone by a short delivery from Gaja. Angled into him from around the wicket and the ball ballooned off the bat and to Jaffer at third slip. Central Zone 66/5 in 26.1 overs

Lunch Updates

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: Central Zone 53-4. UP’s Rinku Singh and Karan Sharma at the crease after Unadkat’s triple strikes rattle the top and middle-order. West Zone has its nose ahead but expect a fightback from this UP middle order, with Venkatesh Iyer to follow. 

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: South Zone 474/5. Despite the three wickets, North Zone has let another partnership take root. Ricky Bhui (25*) and Gowtham (16*) have been brisk on their way to the break.

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: Wicket! Unadkat strikes again and Garg has to go. Around the wicket again, on a length, and Garg pokes in the channel and gets an edge to the slips. Central Zone 48/4 in 20.1 overs

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: Sensational spell from Unadkat. He was moving the ball into RHBs and then came around the wicket, angled the ball away from LHB Mantri, around the wicket again, and got his outside edge to second slip. Central Zone 48/3 in 19.5 overs

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: North Zone has been awarded 5 penalty runs as the South Zone batters K Gowtham and Ricky Bhui were found running on the wicket. 

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: Shubham Sharma edges behind as Rahane takes a well-anticipated catch at gully. Central Zone 32/2 in 15.1 overs

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: Huge appeal for caught behind as Unadkat believes he has got Shubham Sharma’s inside edge. The umpire is unmoved and all that the fielders can do is stand with their hands on their heads.  Central Zone 31/1 in 14 overs

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: Baba Indrajith falls on 65 off 104 deliveries. Tries to cut Mayank Dagar off the backfoot but the ball skids through to hit the stumps. Dagar breaks a 52-run stand. Ricky Bhui is the new man in. South Zone 431/4 in 114.2 overs 

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: Mantri and Shubham Sharma have rebuilt slowly, and the boundaries have been few and far between. Atit Sheth was brought into the attack from Unadkat’s end, who is now back from Gaja’s end. The batters have looked tentative against bounce but have capitalised on anything that is pitched up. Central Zone 25/1 in 11 overs at Drinks

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: Fifth successive 50-plus FC score for Baba Indrajith off 85 balls. Meanwhile, Manish Pandey brings up South Zone’s 400 with three boundaries in four balls against left-armer Nishant Sindhu.  South Zone at Drinks, 405/3. 81 runs added in an hour. Manish Pandey has walked out with an attacking mindset and North Zone spinners have simply fed length to him. All too easy at the moment for South Zone batters. 

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: Vihari falls for 134 off 255 balls. Mayank Dagar finds the top-edge as Vihari miscues a sweep shot to the keeper. Manish Pandey is in at 5. Also, we have an update on Navdeep Saini, who had walked off the field earlier. The North Zone seamer has suffered a groin injury. South Zone 375/3 in 103 overs

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: Excellent reply from the West Zone bowlers after a disappointing show by its batters. Unadkat and Gaja have moved the ball both ways with the former getting the wicket of Yash Dubey - MP’s second-highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy last season. Mantri and Shubham Sharma at the crease now. Central Zone 5/1 in 5 overs

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: West Zone 257 all out. Rahul Tripathi gets an inside edge to the keeper and Aniket Choudhary gets his second wicket. Tripathi made 67.

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: The North Zone bowlers are looking at another long day in the field with South Zone skipper Hanuma Vihari and Baba Indrajith looking at ease against the second new ball. In another blow, North seamer Navdeep Saini got injured during his second over of the day - he has walked off the field. Captain Mandeep is forced to turn to spin as early as the third over of the morning.

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: While Mulani will be key for West Zone when Central comes out to bat, Tanush Kotian, with his off-spin, will be key against the three left-handers in the top seven. All in all, spin will be king on this wicket going by what has transpired so far.

Day 1 score updates

West Zone - 1st innings: Prithvi Shaw b Kumar Kartikeya 60, Yashasvi Jaiswal c Shubham Sharma b Aniket Choudhary 0, Ajinkya Rahane lbw b Gaurav Yadav 8, Rahul Tripathi (batting) 64, Armaan Jaffer c Aniket Choudhary b Karan Sharma 23, Het Patel lbw b Kumar Kartikeya 2, Shams Mulani c Shubham Sharma b Ankit Rajpoot 41, Atit Sheth c Himanshu Mantri b Kumar Kartikeya 3, Tanush Kotian b Kumar Kartikeya 36, Jaydev Unadkat b Kumar Kartikeya 1, Chintan Gaja (batting) 5; Extras (lb 8, w 1) 9; Total (for nine wickets in 82 overs) 252.

South Zone — 1st innings: Rohan Kunnummal b Saini 143, Mayank Agarwal 49 b Sindhu, Hanuma Vihari (batting) 107, Baba Indrajith (batting) 20; Extras (lb-4, nb-1) 5; Total (two wkts in 90 overs): 324.

North Zone 11: Yash Dhull, Dhruv Shorey, Manan Vohra, Mandeep Singh, Himanshu Rana, Nishant Sindhu, Anmol Malhotra (wk), Mayank Dagar, Pulkit Narang, Navdeep Saini, Siddharth Kaul

South Zone 11: Hanuma Vihari, Mayank Agarwal, Rohan Kunnummal, Manish Pandey, Baba Indrajith, Ravi Teja, Ricky Bhui (wk), Sai Kishore, K Gowtham, Basil Thampi, Tanay Thyagarajan

West Zone 11: Rahane (c), Shaw, Jaiswal, Armaan Jaffer, Rahul Tripathi, Het Patel (wk), Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Unadkat, Chintan Gaja, Atit Sheth

Central Zone 11: Karan Sharma (c), Shubham Sharma, Mantri (wk), Yash Dubey, Priyam Garg, Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Kumar Kartikeya, Aniket Choudhary, Ankit Rajpoot, Gaurav Yadav

TOSS UPDATE:

South Zone has won the toss and elected to bat.

Central Zone has won the toss and elected to bowl

Lalith Kalidas from Salem: Good morning from the SCF ground in Salem. The Duleep Trophy semifinal between North Zone and South Zone will be underway shortly. Both teams are going through their warmups. The wicket looks benign with tinges of green.

Dhruva Prasad from Coimbatore: “Looks a like a dry wicket here at SNR College Cricket Ground for the Duleep Trophy semifinal between West Zone and Central Zone. Just a tinge of grass on what looks like a belter.” Meanwhile, Prithvi Shaw and Yashasvi Jaiswal have had some intense slip catching drills this morning.

FULL SQUADS

Central Zone: Priyam Garg, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Akshay Wadkar(w), Ashok Menaria, Karan Sharma(c), Shubham S Sharma, Kumar Kartikeya, Ankit Rajpoot, Aniket Choudhary, Gaurav Yadav, Aditya Sarwate, Deepak Dhapola, Yash Dubey, Himanshu Mantri

West Zone: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Prithvi Shaw, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Tamore (wk), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Shardul Thakur, Rahul Tripathi, Satyajeet Bachhav, Het Patel, Chintan Gaja, Jaydev Unadkat, Chirag Jani, Atit Sheth.

Standby players: Siddharth Desai, Suved Parkar, Armaan Jaffer.

North Zone: Yash Dhull, Dhruv Shorey (vc), Manan Vohra, Mandeep Singh (c),Himanshu Rana, Akash Vashisht, Anmol Malhotra, Mayank Dagar, Pulkit Narang, Navdeep Saini, Siddharth Kaul, Jagjit Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Qamran Iqbal, Vikas Mishra.

Standby players: Amit Rana, Ankit Kalsi, Fazil Rashid, Baltej Singh , Raj Angad, Abdul Samad.

South Zone: Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Baba Indrajith(w), Hanuma Vihari(c), Manish Pandey, Ricky Bhui, Krishnappa Gowtham, Tanay Thyagarajan, Basil Thampi, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Lakshay Garg, Eknath Kerkar, Telukupalli Ravi Teja, Rohan Kunnummal, Cheepurapalli Stephen

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