Central Zone finished Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy 2025 final on top at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground in Bengaluru after South Zone were bowled out for 149 runs. Kumar Kartikeya took a four-fer while Saransh Jain grabbed a fifer as spinnes dominated the show with the ball. In reply, Central Zone reached 50 for no loss, remaining 99 runs behind the Central Zone.
Batting first, South Zone’s struggled to get going from the start. Tanmay Agarwal scored 31 runs, which remained the highest score, while others failed to make an impact. Kartikeya removed three from the top order, which also included SZ skipper Mohammed Azharuddeen. After Lunch, Jain took over, trapping Ricky Bhui, Andre Sidharth, Salman Nizar, MD Nidheesh and Ankit Sharma to claim a five-wicket haul.
Central Zone’s openers started their innings with the bat on a calm note. Danish Malewar and Akshay Wadkar stayed unbeaten on 28 and 20 runs respectively. They played safe shots, picked up boundaries on regular ocassions. They had no trouble tackling South Zone attack on the first day. Spinner Ankit Sharma bowled tightly but lacked support from the pacers, Gurjapneet Singh, Nidheesh and Vasuki Koushik as they failed to claim any wicket till stumps.
At stumps, Central Zone were 50 without any loss, trailing by only 99 runs and look well placed to take a first-innings lead on a pitch already helping spinners.
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