Kaverappa shines as South Zone restrict North Zone to 195 in Duleep Trophy semi-final

Vidhwath Kaverappa claimed four wickets as South Zone bowled out North Zone for 195 on day one of their Duleep Trophy semi-final. South Zone reached 40/2 at stumps, with N. Jagadeesan unbeaten on 34

Bengaluru: Pacer Vidhwath Kaverappa picked a disciplined four-wicket haul to help South Zone bowl out North Zone for a modest 195 on the day one of their Duleep Trophy semi-final clash at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 2 on Sunday.

Opting to bat first after winning the toss, a strategy similar to their quarter-final victory against West Zone, North Zone failed to build substantial partnerships as South Zone’s disciplined attack kept taking wickets at regular intervals.

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Opening batter Qamran Iqbal provided the sole resistance for North Zone by compiling a gritty 76 off 182 balls. However, he found little support from the other end. Number three batter Ayush Doseja struck five boundaries during his 23-run knock before being dismissed by Kavuri Saiteja.

North Zone slipped into trouble early in the opening session, losing Doseja, Sanat Sangwan, Ayush Badoni and Abdul Samad in quick succession to be reduced to 95/4. Captain Kanhaiya Wadhawan attempted to rebuild the innings alongside Iqbal, stitching together a 66-run partnership for the fifth wicket, which proved to be the highest stand of the North Zone innings.

The resistance ended when spinner Tanay Thyagarajan castled Wadhawan for 35. Iqbal was left to wage a lonely battle with the tail, but Kaverappa returned for a lethal second spell to slice through the lower order. Unlike the quarter-final, there was no lower-order rescue act from Anshul Kamboj, as North Zone lost their final five wickets for just 21 runs.

Kaverappa finished with impressive figures of 4-66, while Thyagarajan (2-31) and MD Nidheesh (2-38) made their contributions to dismantle the North Zone line-up. In reply, South Zone reached 40/2 at stumps, trailing North Zone by 155 runs.

Wicketkeeper-batter N. Jagadeesan played an aggressive unbeaten knock of 34 off 31 balls to survive through the tricky final passage of play, while skipper Tilak Varma was not out on one off three balls.

North Zone managed to strike back late in the day, as Kamboj and Gurnoor Brar took out Ricky Bhui (5) and Shaik Rasheed (zero) before bad light brought an early end to the day’s play. Day two will tell if South Zone manage to take the lead or whether their contentious call to not play Karun Nair will come back to hit them hard.

Brief scores: North Zone 195 in 59.1 overs (Qamran Iqbal 76, Kanhaiya Wadhawan 35; Vidhwath Kaverappa 4-66, Tanay Thyagarajan 2-31) lead South Zone 40/2 in 18 overs (N. Jagadeesan 34 not out; Anshul Kamboj 1-9, Gurnoor Brar 1-12) by 155 runs