Central Zone Dominate Duleep Trophy Final; Rathod Unbeaten on 104

Central Zone captain Rajat Patidar and Yash Rathod put the team in a strong position by scoring centuries in the final match of the Duleep Trophy. Yash Rathod and Patidar shared a 167-run partnership for the fourth wicket, strengthening their position. Rajat Patidar was dismissed after scoring 101 runs off 115 balls, hitting two sixes and 12 fours in this innings. Yash also reached his century, scoring 104 runs, and is currently unbeaten. Central Zone has scored 320 runs for 5 wickets.

In this title match at the BCCI's Center of Excellence ground, South Zone came to bat after losing the toss and was bowled out for just 149 runs. They lost their first wicket early with Mohit Kale scoring 9 at a score of 27. After this, the team struggled to recover, continuously losing wickets. Tanmay Agarwal scored the highest with 31 runs off 76 balls, including three fours. Salman Nizar added 24 runs, while Ankit Sharma scored 20. From the opposition, Saransh Jain took the most wickets with 5, and Kumar Karthikeya took 4.

In response, Central Zone’s opening pair provided a solid start. Akshay Wadekar shared a 55-run opening partnership with Danish Malewar. Akshay was dismissed after scoring 22, while Danish made 53. The Central Zone had lost three wickets by 93 runs. From there, Captain Rajat Patidar and Yash Rathod built a crucial 167-run partnership for the fourth wicket, strengthening their position. On the second day, Central Zone has scored 324 runs for 5 wickets in 85 overs. Yash Rathod is unbeaten on 104.

For South Zone, Gurjapneet Singh has taken 3 wickets, while MD Nidhish and Vasuki Kaushik each took 1 wicket. Currently, Central Zone leads by 175 runs.