Duleep Trophy 2023: West Zone reach final on rain-hit last day

ALUR (KARNATAKA): West Zone on Saturday reached the final of Duleep Trophy 2023 on the basis of a crucial first innings lead after their semifinal clash against Central Zone ended in a draw on a rain-affected last day, here.

Chasing a challenging 399 to win on Day 4, Central Zone were reduced to 128/4 when the sky opened up, leading to a prolonged stoppage of play. An early tea break was taken and eventually, handshakes were exchanged as the final day's play was called off due to a wet outfield.

Now, West Zone will face either the South or North Zone in the summit clash at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium from July 12.

Earlier in the day, West Zone managed to add only five runs to their overnight total before losing their last wicket Yuvrajsinh Dodiya as Saransh Jain got his fourth wicket of the innings.

In reply, Central Zone were rocked early as Arzan Nagaswalla and Atit Sheth dismissed the openers Himanshu Mantri and Vivek Singh cheaply after a slow start.

Amandeep Khare tried to steady the innings in the company of Dhruv Jurel and Rinku Singh, but the scoring rate was too slow to keep up with the target. Rinku smashed three boundaries and three sixes during his breezy 30-ball 40 but it wasn't enough to threaten West, who qualified for the final.

Brief scores:

West Zone 220 (Atit Sheth 74, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 39; Shivam Mavi 6-44) & 297 (Suryakumar Yadav 52, Cheteshwar Pujara 133; Saurabh Kumar 4-79, Saransh Jain 4-56) drew with Central Zone 128 (Rinku Singh 48, Dhruv Jurel 46; Arzan Nagaswalla 5-74, Atit Sheth 3-27) & 128/4 (Rinku Singh 40; Yuvrajsinh Dodiya 1-16)