South Zone 180/5 in 66.4 Overs | Duleep Trophy Semi-Final 2 Live Score: Tilak Varma’s team look to push for a first innings lead

Pacer Vidhwath Kaverappa took a disciplined four-wicket haul to help South Zone bowl out North Zone for a modest 195 on the first day of their Duleep Trophy semi-final encounter at the BCCI Center of Excellence Ground 2 on Sunday.

North Zone opted to bat first after winning the toss, a strategy similar to their quarter-final win against West Zone. North Zone failed to build substantial partnerships as South Zone’s disciplined attack kept taking wickets at regular intervals.

Opening batter Qamran Iqbal provided the only resistance for North Zone by compiling a gutsy 76 off 182 balls. However, he found little support at the other end. Number three batsman Ayush Doseja smashed five boundaries during his 23-run knock before Kavuri Saiteja was dismissed.

North Zone ran into trouble early in the opening session when they lost Doseja, Sanat Sangwan, Ayush Badoni and Abdul Samad in quick succession to slump to 95/4. Skipper Kanhaiya Wadhawan tried to rebuild the innings alongside Iqbal and put together a 66-run partnership for the fifth wicket which turned out to be the highest stand of the innings in the North Zone.

The resistance ended when spinner Tanay Thyagarajan covered Wadhawan for 35. Iqbal was left to fight a lonely battle with the tail but Kaverappa returned for a second death spell to cut through the lower order. Unlike in the quarter-finals, there was no lower-order rescue from Anshul Kamboj as North Zone lost their last five wickets for just 21 runs.

Kaverappa finished with impressive figures of 4-66 while Thyagarajan (2-31) and MD Nidheesh (2-38) contributed to the North Zone line-up. In response, South Zone reached 40/2 at stumps, falling behind North Zone by 155 runs.

Wicket batsman N. Jagadeesan played an aggressive unbeaten knock of 34 off 31 balls to survive the tricky final passage of the game while skipper Tilak Varma fell just short of one in three balls.

North Zone managed to strike back late in the day when Kamboj and Gurnoor Brar dismissed Ricky Bhui (5) and Shaik Rasheed (nil) before bad light brought an early end to the game. Day two will show if South Zone can take the lead or if their questionable call of not playing Karun Nair will come back and hit them hard.

Brief Score: North Zone 195 in 59.1 overs (Qamran Iqbal 76, Kanhaiya Wadhawan 35; Vidhwath Kaverappa 4-66, Tanay Thyagarajan 2-31) lead South Zone 40/2 in 18 overs (N. Jagadeesan, Gubojr 35 no, Anul Brashr 34 no 1-12) by 155 runs