Central Zone close in on Duleep Trophy title, need 65 to win

Central Zone need 65 runs to win the Duleep Trophy after bowling out South Zone for 426 on Day Four, despite a resilient 192-run partnership between Ankit Sharma and Andre Siddarth

Bengaluru: Central Zone need just 65 runs to lift the crown in the 2025/26 Duleep Trophy after dismissing South Zone for 426 in their second innings on Day Four of the final at Ground 1 of the BCCI CoE Excellence here on Sunday.

The final going into Day Five was made possible due to a gritty seventh-wicket partnership of 192 runs between Ankit Sharma and C Andre Siddarth. Central Zone had earlier seemed set for an innings victory after reducing South Zone to 222/6 before lunch, holding a lead of 140 runs.

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But Ankit and Siddarth delayed the inevitable and revived South Zone’s hopes through a stunning rearguard act. After Ankit fell agonisingly short of a century, dismissed for 99, a dramatic collapse in the final half-hour of Day Four meant Central Zone are now in a strong position to win the trophy.

As South Zone lost their last four wickets for just 12 runs, Siddarth held one end firmly to remain unbeaten on 84.

Resuming from 129/2, Ricky Bhui kept the scoreboard ticking before falling for 45 to Deepak Chahar. Smaran Ravichandran brought up his half-century off 70 balls even as wickets fell around him.

Mohammed Azharuddeen injected some urgency with a 27-ball 40 before falling to Kumar Kartikeya Singh. Salman Nizar counter-attacked briefly with 12 off 17 balls before falling to Kartikeya, who then removed Smaran for 67. With South Zone still trailing, Ankit and Siddarth took charge.

The duo was measured in attacking Kartikeya and Saransh Jain until the lunch break. After that, they continued their positive approach as South Zone managed to avert the ignominy of an innings defeat.

Their hopes of saving the final ended when Kartikeya dismissed Ankit for 99. From there, Siddarth watched the tail collapse quickly, putting Central Zone in prime position to become Duleep Trophy champions.

Brief scores:

South Zone 149 & 426 all out in 121 overs (Ankit Kumar 99, Andre Siddarth 84*; Kumar Kartikeya Singh 4-110, Saransh Jain 3-130)
Central Zone 511 in 145.1 overs (Yash Rathod 194; Gurjapneet Singh 4-124)
South Zone lead by 64 runs