Duleep Trophy: Tilak vs Sooryavanshi is in the finals for the South Zone book title

Brief Score: South Zone (312 and 182 for 3) beat North Zone (195 and 297) by 7 wickets.

Captain Tilak Varma backed up his first innings century with an unbeaten 51 as South Zone beat North Zone by seven wickets to book their place in the final of the Duleep Trophy 2026 at the BCCI Center of Excellence Ground 2 in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

MD Nidheesh took five wickets as North Zone were bowled out for 297 on Day 4, leaving South Zone with a target of 181. South Zone chased it down comfortably with Tilak and R Smaran remaining unbeaten to take their team into the final.

The South Zone will take on the East Zone in the summit clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai from September 6. The finale will also feature an interesting battle between Tilak and East Zone young batting star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

North Zone continued on 256/7 with a lead of 139 runs. Anshul Kamboj and Nishant Sindhu added 60 runs before Nidheesh bowled Kamboj for 36.

Gurnoor Brar and Arshdeep Singh hit a six each but Nidheesh removed both the shots to complete his five-wicket haul. Sindhu remained unbeaten on 35 as North Zone were dismissed for 297.

South Zone started their chase steadily with Ricky Bhui and Narayan Jagadeesan adding 64 runs for the first wicket. Bhui attacked from the outset, hitting seven fours in his 53-ball 42 before being dismissed by Gurnoor Brar.

Shaik Rasheed fell soon after, bowled by Abid Mushtaq for 1, but Jagadeesan and Tilak ensured the South Zone reached lunch at 72/2.

The pair kept the south zone in check even after the break but Mushtaq struck again when Jagadeesan got 43.

This brought R Smaran to the crease and he joined Tilak in an unbeaten partnership of 79 runs. Tilak picked up boundaries against Anshul Kamboj and Mushtaq, while Smaran also attacked part-timer Ayush Badoni.

North Zone struggled to find a breakthrough and eventually turned to part-timers Ayush Doseja and Qamran Iqbal. Tilak completed the chase with a boundary which also brought up his half-century.

Tilak had earlier played crucial innings of the match as South Zone struggled at 80/5 in the first innings. His unbeaten 116, along with Shreyas Gopal’s 87, helped South Zone recover to take a 117-run lead after a 175-run partnership.

North Zone fought back with half-centuries from Sanat Sangwan and Ayush Dose, but their batting collapsed again on Day 3. Failure to build on their strong position left South Zone with a modest target on the final day.

South Zone will now turn their attention to the final against East Zone, who beat Central Zone by four wickets in the other semi-final on Tuesday.

– The end

Issued by:

Saurabh Kumar

Published on:

02 Sep 2026 15:51 IST