Duleep Trophy 2023 Semifinals Day 3 Highlights: West Zone leads by 384 at Stumps; South 21/0, needs 194 to win vs North

Following rain and bad light, the day has been called off.

The rain has stopped the play again after a brief restart. South opener Mayank Agarwal scored 15 off 12 with the help of three boundaries.

The conditions aren’t getting any better and the match officials have decided to call off the day three at Alur.

The captains have gone back but umpires and match referee still assessing, reports Pranay Rajiv.

Both the captains and umpires are on the ground, having a look.

Pranay Rajiv: Seems like there are some damp patches.

Both clouds and covers are back. Slight drizzle again, reports Pranay Rajiv from Alur.

Pranay Rajiv: Ground inspection at 3:30. Super soppers in work.

After just one over, the rain has stopped play at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium also.

The South Zone openers are out in the middle to chase the 215 runs target set by North Zone.

As soon as Pujara got out, the match stopped because of rain.

Pranay Rajiv: Solid rain. Should be the end of days play.

And the last wicket falls in the form of Harshit Rana, who got bowled by R Sai Kishore after scoring a quickfire 38 off 36 balls.

South Zone needs to chase 215 runs to win the match.

Cheteshwar Pujara RUN OUT!

Pranay Rajiv: Saransh Jain with an incredible run out of his own bowling.

Ran forward, picked up the ball and threw it down in one motion. That was probably the only way Pujara was getting out.

He goes after scoring 133 off 278 balls.

Vaibhav Arora is the batter dismissed. Sai Kishore gets him to edge one to keeper Ricky Bhui. Harshit Rana still at the crease and he is joined by the last man Baltej Singh.

Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana continue at the crease and have taken North’s lead past 200 runs.

Pujara continues to push West Zone forward. He is on 131 off 265 deliveries. Arzan Nagwaswalla provides support from the other. He’s not opened his account yet but has seen out 11 deliveries.

V Vyshak gets his fifer with the wicket of Nishant Sindhu who falls for 15 off 27.

Harshit Rana has taken an aggressive approach and with the help of three fours has moved to 20 off 18 deliveries. Can the North Zone tail wag?

Pranay Rajiv: Chintan Gaja’s stay at the crease doesn’t last too long. Saurabh Kumar gets his fourth as he entices an edge from Gaja, which is scooped up by Jurel at silly point.

V Vyshak strikes again. He gets Pulkit Narang to hole out to Hanuma Vihari.

South Zone in command here and it surely senses the chance to bundle out North Zone below 200.

It is all falling apart for North Zone. Captain Jayant Yadav falls, castled by V Vyshak.

Hundred for Pujara. His 60th First Class ton to go level with the great Vijay Hazare.

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Saransh Jain strikes right after Lunch. He gets the wicket of Dharmendrasinh Jadeja.y

Chintan Gaja is the new batter for West Zone.

The second session is underway at both the venues.

Nishant Sindhu and Jayant Yadav batting for North as the first session comes to an end. North Zone was the clear winner in the session until it lost the wickets of Prabhsimran Singh and Ankit Kumar in quick succession. The lead is still some way from 200 and if South can strike couple of wickets more it would be in a commanding position in the game.

Pranay Rajiv: Central has managed to knock down three West wickets, but had not been able to pose a challenge to Pujara. It’s almost as if he is batting on a different surface. The only time he was beaten was when he attempted a cut shot off Saransh Jain. He ends the session on 92 runs. Jadeja with him right now as West swells its lead to 337 runs.

One wicket brings two. Ankit Kumar too departs as Sai Kishore picks his first wicket of the innings. The two wickets towards the end of this session just slightly tilt the scales in favour of South Zone.

Cheteshwar Pujara moves to 81 runs. Surely, a century in sight for the India international. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja is on nine off 19 deliveries as the West Zone lead continues to stretch past 300.

Prabhsimran Singh falls to V Vyshak. He holes out to Sai Kishore on 63 runs. Nishant Sindhu joins Ankit Kumar who is on 26 off 63 balls.

Saransh Jain strikes again.

His pacy off spin has been causing some trouble to both Atit Sheth and Pujara.

Jain catches Sheth in front of the stump with one that slid on.

Fifty up for Prabhsimran Singh. He’s ensured the innings was not derailed after the early wicket of Ankit Kalsi. Setting up a platform for a big lead.

West brings up its 200. Atit Sheth has joined Pujara and has moved to eight runs of 15 deliveries. Pujara playing a trademark innings. He’s on 66 off 159.

Hundred up for North Zone. Prabhsimran Singh leading the charge as he moves to 43 runs. Ankit Kumar sticking with him at the other end. Their partnership is four short of 50 runs.

It’s the end of Het Patel’s innings.

Pranay Rajiv: Saransh Jain’s part time spin works as he forces a mistake out of Patel. He offers a simple catch to Amandeep Khare at short leg.

West moves closer to 200 runs. Pujara and Patel seems to be comfortable batting in the middle. Their partnership is now worth 47 runs.

Prabhsimran Singh showing more of his fluent shot making. The wicketkeeper-batter hits two fours to get to 30 runs. Ankit Kumar still not able to get a move as he bats on five off 31 deliveries.

Het Patel finally has a boundary. Two of them actually. Covers drives off Shivam Mavi. He reaches 19 off 35 with those two hits. Pujara batting on 61.

The wicket of Ankit Kalsi has clogged the North scoring rate. The new man in, Ankit Kumar has played 17 deliveries for just two runs. Prabhsimran, who had looked to score in his first innings, has also been quiet till now.

The first sign of aggression by the West batters. Pujara hits two fours and moves to 60 runs off 118 deliveries. Het Patel is on eight runs of 20 deliveries.

Central Zone has put a halt on the runs in the first few overs. Just five runs scored so far. Pujara has played nine deliveries and scored one run. The new batter Het Patel on four off 13 deliveries.

Ankit Kalsi falls. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. He was proactive in punishing loose deliveries but he falls to Kaverappa. 29 off 29 for Kalsi, 24 of those came of fours. North leads by 64.

Saurabh Kumar strikes in the very first over. Sarafaraz Khan has to walk back.

Pranay Rajiv: He drags Sarfaraz forward into a front foot defence, but spins the ball away from the batter. Upendra Yadav completes a good catch.

Vidwath Kaverappa to bowl the first over of the day. Prabhsimran Singh continues from six runs while Ankit Kalsi is on 21.

Tilak Varma walked out to bat for South Zone on the second day of the Duleep Trophy here on Thursday with new confidence. For, on the previous night, Tilak had earned his maiden international call-up, as part of the T20I squad to tour West Indies.

“My childhood friend called me and said that I had been selected. I made a video call to my parents - they were crying. My coach (Salam Bayash) was also very emotional,” Tilak said.

Full Story by Ashwin Achal:

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West Zone 149/3 & 220 vs Central Zone 128 - West leads by 241 runs

North Zone 51/2 & 198 vs South Zone 195 - North leads by 54 runs

West Zone took control on its semifinal clash against Central Zone on Day 2. Having been bowled out for 220 runs, West replied swiftly with the bowl. Central was bundled out for 128 runs inside 30 overs, handing North a lead of 92 runs. Cheteshwar Pujara and Suryakumar Yadav consolidated on the lead and struck fifties to extend it to 241 by Stumps. On Day 3, the side will look to post a mammoth target for its opponent and place one foot in the final.

The North Zone vs South Zone game hangs in the balance. South’s collapse - from 144/4 to 195 all out - gave a slender advantage to North Zone worth three runs. Vaibhav Arora and Jayant Yadav starred for North. South was able to remove to batters in North’s second innings when rain brought an end to the day’s play. The morning session holds the key to the match. If North is able to extend the lead past hundred without losing any wicket, it will be in the driver’s seat. On the other hand, if South gets breakthroughs in the first session, it could reduce North’s second innings total and hope to chase it down.