Duleep Trophy, 2nd semi-final: South Zone trail by 135 runs
The second semi-final of the 2023 Duleep Trophy between South Zone and North Zone remains evenly poised after Day 1 in Bengaluru. A five-wicket haul from Vidhwath Kaverappa helped South Zone bowl out North Zone for a mere 198. Prabhsimran Singh was their top scorer (49). In the final session, South Zone were reduced to 63/4, with Mayank Agarwal still in the middle (37*).
The summary of Day 1
SZONE won the toss and opted to bowl. Kaverappa ran through NZONE's top order, reducing them to 18/3. Although Prabhsimran and Ankit Kumar added 79 runs, North Zone lost the former before the 100-run mark. Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora tallied crucial runs as NZONE crawled their way to 198. Both Rana and Baljet Singh struck twice, with SZONE finishing on 63/4 at stumps.
Third fifer for Kaverappa
Pacer Kaverappa was the pick of South Zone's bowlers, having taken his third five-wicket haul in First-Class cricket. The 24-year-old took these wickets for just 28 runs in 17.3 overs, including as many as eight maidens. Medium-pacer KV Sasikanth assisted Kaverappa with two wickets. Meanwhile, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Sai Kishore, and Washington Sundar took a wicket apiece.
Other talking points from NZONE's innings
Prabhsimran's counter-attacking 49 saved the day for North Zone. He took just 52 balls, having smashed 6 fours and 1 six. Amit (33) and Nishant Sindhu (27) too made valuable contributions. Rana smashed a 22-ball 31 (4 fours and 2 sixes) after NZONE were tottering on 144/8. Vaibhav, who added 29 runs with Rana, returned unbeaten on 23*(50)
SZONE suffer a top-order collapse
Four of South Zone's top five batters have already departed in single figures. Sai Sudharsan (9), Ravikumar Samarth (1), skipper Hanuma Vihari (0), and Ricky Bhui (0) were the victims. Mayank (37*) and Tilak Varma (12*) will resume their campaign tomorrow.
