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South Zone is set to face East Zone in the summit clash of the Duleep Trophy 2026 after defeating North Zone by seven wickets in the second semi-final at the Centre of Excellence 2 here on Wednesday.
The Tilak Varma-led side completed the victory in the second session on the final day of the match when the skipper hit the winning runs and completed his half-century with that after remaining unbeaten in the first innings. Day 4 started with North Zone tailenders looking to set a big target for their opponents, and the duo of Nishant Sindhu and Anshul Kamboj contributed 60 runs for the eighth wicket before MD Nidheesh broke their partnership. He dismissed Gurnoor Brar in his next over and restricted North Zone's second innings with the final wicket of Arshdeep Singh. Sindhu remained unbeaten on 35 as the North set a 181-run target for the Southern side. Nidheesh completed his five-wicket haul as Kavuri Saiteja and Shreyas Gopal took a couple of wickets each. Vidwath Kaverappa also took a wicket in the second innings. For South Zone, Ricky Bhui opened the batting with Narayan Jagadeesan and the duo added 64 runs for the first wicket. Gurnoor Brar provided the first breakthrough for the Northern side, and Abid Mushtaq dismissed Shaik Rasheed in the next over. After that, Tilak Varma joined Jagadeesan and the pair added 37 runs for the third wicket before Mushtaq dismissed Jagadeesan for 43 runs. Smaran Ravichandran joined his skipper after that, and the duo took their side past the winning line with an unbeaten 80-run partnership. The final match between East Zone and South Zone will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai starting Sunday (September 6). The final will be a full five-day match, and if the match ends in a draw, the winner will be decided by the first-innings lead. (ANI)
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