West Zone took command of the Duleep Trophy final after scoring 459 in the first innings and then reducing South Zone to 106 for 4 by stumps on the second day of the five-day match in Chennai on Friday. Skipper Subramaniam Badrinath, who was unbeaten on 54 at stumps, holds the key to South's fortunes. Keeping him company at stumps was Dinesh Karthik on 5. Earlier, West, resuming at the overnight score of 303-5, were dismissed for 459.
Disciplined bowling performance by medium pacer Laxmipathy Balaji and leg spinner M Suresh helped South Zone to thrash North Zone by a huge margin of 411 on the fourth and final day of four-day Duleep Trophy semi-final played in Rajkot on Sunday.
A fine half century knock by Rahul Deewan (81) helped North Zone reach 172 for three wickets in reply to South Zone's daunting first innings 548 on the second day of the four-day Duleep Trophy semifinal at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground in Rajkot on Friday.
Central Zone's Mohammad Kaif on Sunday posted a captain's knock of 87 runs to draw the match but could not prevent South Zone from entering the Duleep Trophy semi-finals by virtue of their narrow three-run first innings lead.
Persistent rain washed out the opening day's play of the Duleep Trophy final match between Central Zone and East Zone without a ball being bowled in Chennai, on Sunday.
Bengal will be bolstered by the return of veteran pacer Mohammed Shami who has who has been out of India contention since the Champions Trophy.
Bengal's left-arm spinner Iresh Saxena and part-time leg-break bowler Anustup Majumdar shared nine wickets amongst themselves as East Zone won their second successive Duleep Trophy title beating Central Zone by virtue of 43-run first innings lead.
Kuldeep Yadav could have helped India take 20 wickets in England series, says Michael Clarke
Indian opener Virender Sehwag will lead the 15-member North Zone team in their Duleep Trophy match against West Zone scheduled to be held early next month at Chennai, the selectors said.
It is learnt that police did not issue the clearance certificate because of the ongoing probe into the June 4 stampede near the Chinnaswamy Stadium that left 11 fans dead and scores of others injured.
Opener Tanmay Srivastava kept Central Zone's hopes of Duleep Trophy title alive with a patient 46 not out as his side ended the fourth day of the summit clash against East Zone at 74 for two in their first innings in Chennai on Wednesday.
Paras Dogra struck a strokeful half century as North Zone piled on a big total of 484 in their first innings to place themselves in a commanding position on the second day of the four-day Duleep Trophy quarter-final match against West Zone in Chennai on Sunday.
Narayan Jagadeesan missed out on a well deserved double hundred by three runs as South Zone reached an imposing first innings score of 536
Wriddhiman Saha continued in his rich vein of form and struck a brilliant 170, which put East Zone in a commanding position against Central Zone at stumps, on the second day of the Duleep Trophy final in Indore, on Monday. Replying to Central's meagre 133, East were all out for 370 in their first innings, a sizeable lead of 237 runs.
Dissatisfied with the performance of 'weak' foreign squads, the BCCI is planning to include a side comprising National Cricket Academy trainees as the sixth team.
India all-rounder Shardul Thakur urged Abhimanyu Easwaran and Kuldeep Yadav to show patience and wait for their chances, after they were benched for the entire five-Test series in England.
Senior cricketers Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina will lead India Red, India Blue and India Green teams respectively in the Duleep Trophy to be played at Greater Noida International Cricket Stadium from August 23 to September 14. The four-day tournament will be played for the first time with pink ball and under lights.
Shreyas Iyer has been named captain of the India A squad for the upcoming three-match one-day series against Australia A, starting September 30 in Kanpur.
Paras Dogra saved North Zone from a disaster as he smashed an aggressive unbeaten 147 to take his side to 266 for seven on the first day of the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old pacer, handed his maiden international cap, is being hailed as a 'good replacement' by former India quick Varun Aaron
Washington Sundar smashed a fifty and scalped two key batsmen to put India Red in the driver's seat against India Blue on the second day of the Duleep Trophy final, in Lucknow, on Tuesday.
By close of play on Friday, the third day of the Duleep Trophy quarter-final, at the Barabati stadium in Cuttack, East had established an overall lead of 61 runs over Central Zone, having taken a first innings lead of 37. At stumps, they were 24 for 1 in their second innings.
'I see them as well rested India players. Could have been selected for the Duleep Trophy.'
Yusuf Pathan scored an unbeaten 210 as West Zone beat South Zone by three wickets to win the Duleep Trophy in Hyderabad on Saturday. Chasing an improbable 536 for victory, West, who ended day four on 379 for 6, finished with 541.
Dhruv Jurel, who impressed during India's series-levelling tour of England, was on Thursday named captain of Central Zone for the season-opening Duleep Trophy, set to begin on August 28 in Bengaluru.
It was purely a 'Batsman's Evening' with Tamil Nadu opener Abhinav Mukund and talented Bengal boy Sudeep Chatterjee's twin tons took India Red to a commanding 354-run lead against India Green on the second day of the Duleep Trophy on Wednesday in Greater Noida. After the bowlers ruled the roost with 17 wickets on the first day, it was the turn of southpaws Abhinav (162 batting, 212 balls) and Sudeep (114, 182 balls) to conjure up a 240-run partnership for the second wicket.
Rahane (207 batting) and Jaiswal (228) toyed with the North East bowling line-up
'Virat and Rohit not playing (Duleep Trophy) was not good for Indian cricket, nor was it good for the two players. Had they played the Duleep Trophy and had some time in the red-ball cricket, things would have been different.'
Captain Shikhar Dhawan scored a superb 101 to help North Zone reach 251 for three against West Zone on the opening day of the four-day Duleep Trophy quarter-final match in Chennai on Saturday.
The BCCI is mulling November 19 as the tentative date for start of domestic season with Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament but Indian players in various IPL teams won't be able to play first few rounds due to quarantine protocols in place.
Defending champions East Zone will seek to do an encore when they meet an upbeat Central Zone in Duleep Trophy cricket tournament final which is a virtual replay of last edition played in Indore.
Bengal speedster Ashok Dinda's hostile spell of fast bowling helped defending champions East Zone reach the final of the Duleep Trophy for the second successive time after beating South Zone by virtue of 23-run first innings lead.
'I have said this before... Selection is not in my hands. If there is a fitness issue, I shouldn't be here playing for Bengal.'
Yuvraj Singh feels it moved a bit more than SG Test ball while Robin Uthappa's observations varied from colour change to lack of reverse swing as the first set of inputs on the much talked about 'Pink ball' Day-Night experiment in the Duleep Trophy came to the fore.
South leads by a mere 64 runs, and Central should be able to surmount the target without much fuss on the fifth day on Monday.
He played just two first-class matches.
Salman Nizar smashed an unprecedented 11 sixes off 13 balls including a 40-run final over
Gujarat opener Priyank Panchal started off his new season with a patient 105 in India's Red's none too impressive 232 for 5 as Murali Vijay and Karun Nair surprised one and all sharing bulk of the spoils for India Green on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy.
Taking a cue from the success of the first Day-Night Test in Adelaide last year, the Tour and Program Fixtures Committee has recommended to the BCCI Technical panel to consider organising the Duleep Trophy matches with pink ball.
'I don't have any hopes (about making a comeback to the Indian team).' 'If they pick me, I will try to perform and give my 100 percent.'
