South Zone seal spot in Duleep Trophy 2025 final after draw with North Zone

N Jagadeesan struck an unbeaten 52 to extend South Zone's dominance as they advanced to the final of the Duleep Trophy after taking a 175-run first-innings lead against North Zone here on Sunday.

South Zone will take on Central Zone in the summit clash of the tournament here from September 11.

South Zone reached 95 for one when the game was called off with Jagadeesan, who had struck a brilliant 197 in the first innings, reaching 52 not out off 69 balls with six fours to carry on with his red-hot form.

At the other end was Devdutt Padikkal on 16 not out.

North Zone, under pressure after their opponents piled up 536 in the first innings, had resumed the play on Sunday at 278 for five with 258 runs in arrears.

Shubham Khajuria, who struck a gritty century on the third day of the contest to reach 128, failed to add to his overnight score as he was cleaned up by Vasuki Koushik for the first wicket on the final day's second over.

Khajuria's innings ended on 128 off 252 balls with 20 fours and a six.

Sahil Lotra (19) and Mayank Dagar (31) tried to delay the inevitable but their partnership of 47 runs for the seventh wicket did not trouble the South Zone much. The South Zone bowlers kept striking at regular intervals to bowl North Zone out for 361 from 100.1 overs, taking a huge lead in the first innings.

Gurjapneet Singh was the pick among the bowlers for South Zone as he returned figures of 4/96, while MD Nidheesh claimed 3/82 off his 19 overs. Koushik and Tanay Thyagarajan took one wicket apiece.

With a massive lead and only one result possible, South Zone batters took a measured approach to reach 95 for one in the 24.4 overs that they faced before the draw was enforced.

South Zone captain Mohammed Azharuddeen said after the game that his team's first-innings score of 536 put them in a commanding position.

"Yes, to be honest they were batting really well, but we know that we got that cushion because of that huge runs and we were just waiting for the one mistake and we got it. Even before that we got one chance, we dropped it, but eventually we got the wicket. So, we were in the game always because we got the cushion of 536 runs," Azharuddeen told the media.

Brief scores: South Zone 536 & 95/1 in 24.4 overs (N Jagadeesan 52 not out; Auqib Nabi 1/23) drew with North Zone 361 in 100.1 overs (Shubham Khajuria 128, Ayush Badoni 40, Nishant Sidhu 82; MD Nidheesh 3/82, Gurjapneet Singh 4/96).