Duleep Trophy semi-final: Gaikwad, Jagadeesan ton up on opening day

Originally posted on Guerilla Cricket | By Aryan Surana | Last updated Sep 4, 2025 10:53 AM ET

South Zone vs North Zone

Asked to bat, South Zone fared well on Day 1 led by Narayan Jagadeesan’s (148*) masterclass. North Zone, who made two changes to their bowling line-up by drafting in Yudhvir Singh Charak and Anshul Kamboj to replace Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh, lacked discipline and conceded as many as 22 extras including 13 no-balls.

The South Zone openers looked determined in the middle and took their side to 79/0 by Lunch. Their 103-run stand was broken when Tanmay Agarwal (43) was bowled by Nishant Sindhu. That, however, was only a sigh of relief for North Zone as it was followed by a rock-solid 123-run stand between Devdutt Padikkal (57) and Jagadeesan. Although North Zone managed to get rid of Padikkal by Tea, Jagadeesan kicked on and accomplished three-figures.

Brief Scores: South Zone 297/3 (Narayan Jagadeeasan 148*, Devdutt Padikkal 57; Nishant Sindhu 2-59, Anshul Kamboj 1-47) vs North Zone

West Zone vs Central Zone

West Zone were buoyed by a scintillating 184 from Ruturaj Gaikwad on Day 1 of their semi-final against Central Zone as they aggregated 363/6 by Stumps. Gaikwad’s runs came at a fair clip of 89.32 and his gem of a knock was laced with 25 fours and a six.

Batting first, West Zone found themselves in trouble early. Yashasvi Jaiswal (4) was trapped in front by Khaleel Ahmed while Deepak Chahar dismissed Harvik Desai (1) to leave West Zone reeling at 10/2.

Aarya Desai and Gaikwad steadied the ship with an 82-run stand but the former succumbed to Harsh Dubey, becoming the third casualty of the first session as West Zone went to Lunch at 116/3.

Shreyas Iyer (25) and Shams Mulani (18) failed to convert their starts and although they shared vital 42 and 45-run stands respectively with Gaikwad, West Zone were still struggling at 179/5.

There came a twist in the tale when Tanush Kotian (65*) shared a massive 148-run stand with Gaikwad to steer their side to calmer shores before Gaikwad was finally out stumped to Saransh Jain. Kotian and skipper Shardul Thakur (24*) added 36 more runs before the close of play to push their team past 350.

Brief Scores: West Zone 363/6 (Ruturaj Gaikwad 184, Tanush Kotian 65*; Khaleel Ahmed 2-70, Saransh Jain 2-109) vs Central Zone

This article first appeared on Guerilla Cricket and was syndicated with permission.

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