Rajat Patidar’s impressive form continues to be a highlight in domestic cricket, with his captaincy now adding another dimension to his game. After leading his previous teams to notable successes, he has guided Central Zone into the Duleep Trophy final. The team will face South Zone in the final match.
The Duleep Trophy, the opening tournament of the Indian domestic cricket season, witnessed drawn semi-final matches. Central Zone and North Zone had advanced to the semi-finals, leveraging their first-innings leads from the quarter-final fixtures in Bengaluru. In the semi-final clash, Central Zone faced off against West Zone, the previous season’s champions. However, West Zone was without their former captain, Ajinkya Rahane. Shardul Thakur took over the captaincy, and the team also featured prominent players like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer.
Despite facing a strong West Zone team, Central Zone showcased their dominance through solid batting and effective bowling. They restricted West Zone to 438 runs in the first innings, followed by Central Zone’s impressive score of 600 runs in their first innings, under Patidar’s leadership. Although no individual batsman scored a century, six batsmen contributed half-centuries, with five exceeding 75 runs. Captain Patidar himself scored 77 runs, and Shubham Sharma top-scored with 96 runs.
This performance ensured Central Zone’s place in the final, giving them a substantial 162-run lead in the first innings. West Zone’s batsmen struggled in the second innings, managing only 216 runs for the loss of 8 wickets before the match concluded in a draw. Saransh Jain, the off-spinner, was instrumental in Central’s success, claiming 3 wickets in the first innings and 5 in the second, also contributing an unbeaten 63 runs.
In the other semi-final, South Zone secured their final berth by defeating North Zone. While this match also ended in a draw on the final day, South Zone’s commanding 175-run lead in the first innings propelled them to the final. Narayan Jagadeesan, the opening batsman, played a pivotal role for South, scoring 197 runs in the first innings. This helped South reach 536 runs in the first innings. Gurjapneet Singh and Mohammed Nidhish’s pace bowling then restricted North to 361 runs. South scored 95 runs for the loss of 1 wicket in the second innings when the match ended, with Jagadeesan adding another half-century to his tally.