Jagadeesan is missing 200, nishant sindhu bag fifer

South Zone’s Narayan Jagadeesan narrowly missed out on a well-deserved double century while North Zone’s Nishant Sindhu bagged a five-wicket haul on Day 2 of the Duleep Trophy semi-finals. In the other match, West Zone were bundled out for 438 runs in their 1st innings against Central Zone. Both contests are evenly poised at the moment, with two more days left in the semis.

Jagadeesan headlines South Zone’s performance on Day 2

Jagadeesan resumed his innings at 148 runs at the start of play on Day 2. The Tamil Nadu keeper-batter, who was named as a reserve keeper for the IND vs ENG 5th Test, managed to fight his way to 197 runs before he agonizingly missed out on his double century. However, his knock had put South Zone in a dominant position as the lower order played their part to perfection. Jagadeesan scored 197 runs off 352 deliveries, striking 16 fours and a couple of sixes before he was sent packing.

While Kale (15) and skipper Azharuddeen (11) failed to fire, Ricky Bhui played a handy 54-run knock. North Zone bowlers were frustrated by the efforts of Bhui and Tanay Thyagrajan (58). South Zone managed to drag on the contest before being bowled out for 536 runs that signalled the end of the day’s play.

Sindhu bags 5-fer

Nishant Sindhu was the only silver lining in the cloud for North Zone as he finished with a five-wicket haul to his name. The spinner added three more wickets to his tally after striking twice on Day 1 of the semis. Sindhu’s victims on Day 2 of the Duleep Trophy semi-final included half-centurion Ricky Bhui and tailenders Gurjapneet Singh and Vasuki Koushik.

Brief scores: South Zone 536/10 (Nidheesh MD 2*, Nishant Sindhu 5/125)

Malewar shines again for Central Zone

Resuming their innings at 363/6, West Zone managed to get to 438 runs before they were bowled out on Day 2. Harsh Dubey and Saransh Jain finished with 3 wickets each to their name. Tanush Kotian put up a valiant fight as he managed to get to 76 runs before he was sent packing. Meanwhile, captain Shardul Thakur played a handy 64-run knock before he was run-out.

In response, Central Zone’s openers Ayush Pandey (40) and Danish Malewar (76) provided a strong start to the side. The openers posted a partnership worth 67 runs before Pandey was dismissed first.d Malewar’s fine form continued but unfortunately he missed out on another century. Shubham Sharma then slammed a half-century while captain Rajat Patidar stayed unbeaten on 47 runs at the end of the day’s play. Central Zone trail West Zone by 209 runs.

Brief scores: Central Zone 229/2 (Shubham Sharma 60*, Rajat Patidar 47*; Arzan Nagwaswalla 1/15 and DA Jadeja 1/38)