West Zone enters the Duleep Trophy final with a bang

Zone West After their semifinal match against Central Zone finished in a tie, Saturday reached the Duleep Trophy final on the strength of a significant first innings lead.

Starting on July 12, the summit match between West and either the South Zone or the North Zone will take place at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

When the clouds came up and forced the closure at tea during the Duleep Trophy semifinal at the KSCA Oval, Central could only muster 128 for 4 as they attempted to chase down an unlikely 399 to win.

If the weather had stayed clear, West could have been able to search for the final six wickets. However, West ultimately did not need that since they already had a 98-run first innings advantage, ensuring a successful outcome.

With 292 for 9 at the start of the fourth and final day, West Zone could only score 5 more runs before being bowled out.

Opening pair Vivek Singh and Himanshu Mantri didn’t put up much of a fight as they returned to the hut, leaving Central at 17 for 2.

Dhruv Jurel and Amandeep Khare got off to a good start, but left-arm spinner Dharmendra Jadeja had them both out for only three runs when Het Patel had Dhruv Jurel stumped.

With a 30-ball 40, Rinku Singh added some fake spice to the proceedings. In the last hour before lunch, Rinku pushed the West bowlers through a lot.

Rinku, who had smashed five sixes for Kolkata Knight Riders against Yash Dayal of the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2023, would have none of it. The target was on the verge of becoming unattainable.

The majority of his aggressiveness fell on Jadeja, who was hit for two sixes, one of which even landed in the KSCA (2) grounds.

However, these objectives in a lengthier format go well beyond a one-man performance.

To put an end to the amusement, the left-handed pitcher from Uttar Pradesh holed out to Arzan Nagwaswalla in the deep.