Ruturaj Gaikwad's fluent century held West Zone's innings together on the first day of the Duleep Trophy semifinal against Central Zone. Meanwhile, South Zone were led by Narayan Jagadeesan's composed hundred at the top of the order in their semifinal against North Zone. The big names in Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal both failed to impress in their stints. Both the matches are being played in the two grounds located inside the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
Jagadeesan continued his stellar form from the 2024-25 Ranji season where he tallied 674 runs from 13 innings with two hundred and seven fifties, averaging 56.16, which is impressive for a wicket-keeper batter. The Tamil Nadu man has also largely batted in the top half of the order and did the opening duties for South Zone in this encounter. Jagadeesan put on a 103-run stand with Tanmay Agarwal and followed it up with a 128-run stand with Devdutt Padikkal. Both left-handers looked good for their starts but weren't able to kick on. Jagadeesan, though, didn't waste his start and duly got past the three-figure mark. Anshul Kamboj and Nishant Sindhu picked up a wicket piece but largely, it was hard work for South Zone's bowlers.
ALSO READ
- Was Shubman Gill really unfit to play against South Africa in Ahmedabad? Reports reveal BIG TWIST before India's T20 World Cup 2026 squad announcement
- 'Has it ever happened before?': Gautam Gambhir's old interview after losing vice-captaincy to Virat Kohli goes viral again after India's T20 WC 2026 squad announcement
- How much money was Lionel Messi paid for GOAT India Tour? Full details revealed by chief organizer
In the other semifinal, Central Zone were on fire early through Deepak Chahar and Khaleel Ahmed whose new-ball bursts had West Zone in early trouble. Khaleel had Jaiswal LBW while Chahar had the other opener Harvik Desai nicking off, leaving West Zone at 10/2 in the morning. Gaikwad alongside Aarya Desai repaired things with a 82-run stand to bring West Zone back into the game. While Aarya departed after getting a start, Gaikwad hung on and took on the Central Zone bowlers with aplomb. The Chennai Super Kings captain looked set for a double hundred but while getting into ultra-aggressive mode, got out stumped for 184 against Saransh Jain. Nevertheless, he had done his job of putting West Zone on top. Tanush Kotian also weighed in with a fifty to keep the innings going.