Duleep Trophy: West Zone enter final on basis of first-innings lead against Central Zone

Priyank Panchal-led West Zone on Saturday qualified for the final of the 2023 Duleep Trophy, with a first-innings lead advantage after their semi-final against Central Zone ended in a draw in Alur.

West Zone will now face either North or South Zone in the final on 12 July. The final will be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Central were set a huge target of 399, and with Central at 128/4 at tea, chasing down the target was always going to be tough. And to add to their misery, wet outfield played spoilsport and the match was eventually called off.

West, perhaps, could have gone hunting for the remaining six wickets had the weather remained clear. But eventually West were not in need of that because they had a 98-run first innings lead in the bank to garner a favourable result.

Starting the fourth and final day from 292 for 9, West Zone could add only five more runs before getting bowled out.

Openers Vivek Singh and Himanshu Mantri returned to the hut without offering much fight, reducing Central to 17 for 2.

Dhruv Jurel started off well in the company of Amandeep Khare but left-arm spinner Dharmendra Jadeja had him stumped by Het Patel as Central further slipped to 55 for 3.

Rinku Singh provided some artificial excitement to the proceedings, slamming a 30-ball 40. Rinku put the West bowlers through the wringer in the last hour before lunch.

Target was bordering on impossible alright, but Rinku, who had hammered 5 sixes for Kolkata Knight Riders against Yash Dayal of Gujarat Titans in IPL 2023, would have none of it.

Jadeja suffered the brunt of his aggression, getting hammered for two sixes and one of them even landed in the KSCA (2) grounds.

But then such targets in the longer format is way beyond a one man show.

The left-hander from Uttar Pradesh holed out to Arzan Nagwaswalla in the deep to bring curtains to the entertainment.

With inputs from PTI