Openers Abhinav Mukund and Robin Uthappa bulldozed the North Zone bowlers to script a brilliant run chase as South Zone clinched the Duleep Trophy with a day to spare in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
Talented batter Yash Dhull hit a superb 193 decorated with 28 fours and two sixes to power North Zone to 433/3 in their first innings at stumps on day three of the Duleep Trophy quarter-final against East Zone.
Abhinav Mukund (164) and Amit Verma (148) struck hundreds as South Zone inched towards an outright win over Central Zone at the end of third day's play in the semi-final of the Duleep Trophy cricket tournament in Hyderabad on Friday. Needing 770 runs to win, Central Zone were precariously placed at 73 for two in their second innings at stumps on the penultimate day of the four-day match.
Kerala will have a new captain in Mohammed Azharuddeen.
Mumbai youngster Suryakumar Yadav hit a sparkling century under pressure to guide West Zone to a respectable 299 for 7 in the Duleep Trophy match against East Zone, in Valsad, on Friday.
India Test skipper and T20 vice-captain Shubman Gill reached the BCCI's Centre of Excellence (CoE) for fitness assessment ahead of travelling to Dubai for the upcoming Asia Cup.
Ramesh Powar wrecked South Zone with a 10-wicket match haul as West Zone lifted their 17th Duleep Trophy title after overwhelming the hosts by 274 runs in the five-day final in Chennai on Monday.
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.
The relentless West Zone bowlers left South Zone on a fragile terrain at 182 for seven on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy final in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
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.
Acutely short of match practice, senior fast bowler Ishant Sharma is set to play the next Duleep Trophy match between India Blue and India Green, starting in Delhi, on Tuesday.
Prithvi Shaw became the youngest cricketer to score a century in the final match of Duleep Trophy, reaching the milestone while propping up India Red against India Blue on the opening day, in Lucknow, on Monday.
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'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.
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.
Just like yesterday, the third day's play in the four-day match between India Green and India Blue in Kanpur was also washed out.
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.
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.
Indian cricketers, including Test skipper Shubman Gill and ODI captain Rohit Sharma, have cleared the pre-season fitness test which was conducted at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru on Sunday.
'It would have been understandable if, after a gruelling tour where five Test matches were crammed into a little over six weeks, he had opted to rest.''
Young Delhi all-rounder Harshit Rana showed his all-round prowess as North Zone finished the opening day of their Duleep Trophy semi-final against South Zone.
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.
Is this a subtle hint at a change of guard at Rajasthan Royals?
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.
This year, Rajat led RCB to their maiden IPL title in 18 years and recently was crucial to the Central Zone's Duleep Trophy triumph for the first time since 2014-15.
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.
Reeling at 156 for six at stumps on the fourth and penultimate day, South Zone were staring at a heavy defeat
After their batsmen's limp outing, North Zone bowlers produced a gritty effort to bowl out South Zone for 195 to give their team a slender advantage on Day 2 of the Duleep Trophy semifinals.
The match ended without even the first innings being completed, and both teams got a point each.
'Players who are playing First-Class cricket throughout the year, they would have had 14 First-Class games potentially with India A games, the Irani Trophy, the Duleep Trophy or even more. So a bit of break in between, switching in the formats is always good.'
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.
Easwaran has been a domestic cricket stalwart for Bengal, with 107 first-class games, 8,070 runs at an average of 48.32 with the help of 27 centuries and 33 fifties.
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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.
The West Zone squad was selected by the selection committee chaired by Mumbai's Sanjay Patil, Baroda's Prayan Dave, Maharashtra's Akshay Darekar, Sandip Maniyar from Saurashtra Cricket Association and Kirat Damani from the Gujarat Cricket Association.