Jammu and Kashmir's Shubham Khajuria struck a fighting, unbeaten century to rescue North Zone, but South Zone remained favourites to progress to the Duleep Trophy final, in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Having won their first trophy in 2002 under Mohammad Kaif, Indian teams have have since gone on to win the U-19 World Cup in 2008, 2012, 2018 and 2022.
Unlike in previous years when the under-19 players were in focus and even got lucrative offers, this time the franchises were rather subdued when it came to locking in the junior stars as evidently, it takes time for them to be mature enough for top-flight cricket.
World Cup-bound Kedar Jadhav is virtually ruled out of the remainder of the Indian Premier League Season-12 after hurting his left shoulder while fielding during Chennai Super Kings's match against Kings XI Punjab, in Mohali, on Sunday.
Jadhav has had multiple breakdown due to a dodgy hamstring which also included a near six month lay-off due to a surgery.
In recent times, Kedar Jadhav has been the most under-utilised cricketer, which has led to varied opinions as to whether he is an ideal fit in India's ODI team combination despite averaging 42 plus in 69 games. Jadhav, who had sustained a hamstring injury in the past, bowled only 24 overs in his last 13 ODI games which is even less than two overs per game. Worse is that he hasn't got a single wicket and in four of these games, he wasn't even asked to bowl.
Dhoni would be the centre of discussion amid speculation that the Jharkhand player is contemplating retirement even though he hasn't spoken about it till now.