Duleep Trophy 2023 semi-finals, Day 1 round-up: Suryakumar, Sarfaraz fail as West Zone are held to 216/8 by Central Zone

Pacer and captain Shivam Mavi shone with figures of 4/43 as Central Zone restricted West Zone to 216/8 on Day 1 of Duleep Trophy 2023 semi-final 1 at KSCA Cricket Ground in Alur on Wednesday, July 5.

West Zone won the toss and decided to bat first. They got off to a decent start as openers Prithvi Shaw and Priyank Panchal added 43. However, West Zone slipped swiftly and lost half of their side with only 65 runs on the board.

Shaw (26) fell to Saurabh Kumar, while skipper Panchal (13) was trapped lbw by Yash Thakur. India’s T20 batting star Suryakumar Yadav was out for 7. He fell to Mavi, who also bowled Sarfaraz Khan (0). West Zone were five down when Het Patel (5) was knocked over by Avesh Khan.

India Test discard Cheteshwar Pujara hung around for 28 off 102 balls. He went on to become Mavi’s third victim of the day. Atit Sheth (74 off 129) launched a fightback for West Zone, adding 73 for the seventh wicket with Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (39 off 91).

Both batters, however, perished before the close of play. Sheth, who hit nine fours and a six, also fell to Mavi. At stumps on Day 1 of the first Duleep Trophy 2023 semi-final, Chintan Gaja was unbeaten on 13 and Arzan Nagwaswalla on 5.

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Honors even as 14 wickets fall in North Zone vs South Zone Duleep Trophy 2023 semi-final

Fourteen wickets fell on Day 1 of the second Duleep Trophy 2023 semi-final between North Zone and South Zone at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday, July 5.

Electing to field first, South Zone did an excellent job of restricting North Zone to 198 as Vidwath Kaverappa claimed 5/28. However, by stumps, North Zone too had claimed key wickets to restrict South Zone to 63/4.

Prabhsimran Singh top-scored for North Zone with 49, while Ankit Kumar and Harshit Rana contributed 30s. As for South Zone pacer Kaverappa, he got the key wickets of Dhruv Shorey (11), Ankit Kalsi (2), and opposition skipper Jayant Yadav (2) before adding two tail-end batters to his kitty.

After being bowled out for under 200, North Zone fought back with the ball. Baltej Singh got the wickets of Sai Sudharsan (9) and Ravikumar Samarth (1), while Harshit Rana dismissed South Zone skipper Hanuma Vihari (0) and keeper-batter Ricky Bhui (0) off consecutive deliveries.

At stumps on Day 1 of the second Duleep Trophy 2023 semi-final, Mayank Agarwal was batting on 37 and Tilak Varma on 12.