Central Zone spinners Kumar Kartikeya and Saransh Jain played the patience game and exploited the indecisiveness of South Zone batters to restrict them to 149 in 63 overs on the first day of the Duleep Trophy final on Thursday. The duo shared nine wickets between them bowling 45 overs together.
Apart from the discipline and grind of the spin twin, it was the below-par quality of batting against spin from South Zone that resulted in Central Zone finishing at a strong position after the first day. Central reached 50 for no loss at stumps, trailing by 99 runs. Danish Malewar (28) and Akshay Wadkar (20) were at crease at the end of the day.
South Zone entered the panic zone very early in the game with opener Mohit Kale deciding to play a reckless sweep against Kartikeya in the 16th over. He was bowled by the left arm spin and the fragile period started for them. They lost three more wickets before lunch to be placed at 64 for four in 33 overs, that included the dismissal of Smaran who top edged a slog sweep off Kartikeya.
Opener Tanmay Agarwal was looking solid with 31 runs of 76 balls but he got run out after a mid-pitch collision with his partner Ricky Bhui. Kartikeya soon got rid of Mohammed Azharuddeen with a peach of a delivery that pitched on the leg stump line and turned to disturb the South Zone skipper’s off-stump.
But that was a rare moment of brilliance on the day, as South batters continue to live in their own castle of uncertainty even in the post-lunch session.
5⃣-wicket haul for Saransh Jain 🔥
South Zone are 149 all out in the first innings!
4⃣ wickets for Kumar Kartikeya as well
Tanmay Agarwal top-scored for South Zone with 31!
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/unz0hJ66yE#DuleepTrophy | #Final | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/kkXaeYs7gg
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) September 11, 2025
Andre Siddarth’s dismissal was an example of the tentativeness of the South Zone batters. The Tamil Nadu batter was deceived on the flight while he attempted a pre-meditative charge against Kartikeya only to get stumped by Upendra Yadav, who did really well to collect a ball that bounced well above his waist and to his left.
Salman Nizar (24) was the last hope of South Zone to push the total towards the 200-run mark, but the Kerala batter perished to a half-hearted prod against Jain. A nothing push against the off-spinner resulted in a thick edge that popped out of the silly point fielder but the diving Central skipper Rajat Patidar at gully was too alert to miss the rebound.
Once Nizar was gone, the South did not have much fight to offer as Jain duly completed his ninth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, and second in as many matches after his 5 for 84 effort against West Zone in the Duleep Trophy semifinals here last week.
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Kartikeya said that patience was the key on this pitch. “I knew that runs can be made on this pitch. But if I keep bowling in good areas, the more difficult it will be for the batters, so, I had to play with patience and it was my main motive. I benefited from it. So, I was trying to be more patient in bowling,” he told PTI.
Central openers Danish Malewar and Akshay Wadkar were confident in their approach, stitching a 50-run partnership together to put their team in a strong position as the day’s play ended.
Brief Scores:
Central Zone 50/0 in 19 overs (Malewar 28*, Wadkar 20*) trails South Zone 149/10 in 63 overs (Tanmay 31, Nizar 24; Saransh 5/49, Kartikeya 4/53) by 99 runs.
(With PTI inputs)
