Duleep Trophy: South win race against time, enter final

As the dark clouds hovered over the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, there was anticipation of a tense finish on the last day of the semifinal between South Zone and North Zone. South Zone, with victory in sight, had lost around 100 minutes because of rain. When play resumed at 3:50 pm, with South Zone needing just 32 runs needed and six wickets in hand, light was the only factor that stood between them and a win. For North, a draw was sufficient to set up a final date with West Zone because they had taken the first innings lead.
When R Sai Kishore deposited Jayant Yadav for a six over mid-wicket to seal a two-wicket win for South, it brought to an end a fascinating session, which had its share of drama.
Although South Zone took only 5.5 overs in that final session to get the remaining 32 runs, it took them 53 minutes to get there thanks to North Zone’s time-wasting tactics.
Ricky Bhui and Tilak Varma walked out for the final session and it was evident that North were not going to make it easy as they had eight fielders manning the boundary.
At one point, 5 overs bowled fast bowlers Baltej Singh and Harshit Rana combined would take 49 minutes. Overs 32, 33 and 36 took 10 minutes each, with Rana taking 12 minutes to deliver the 35th. The 34th over Baltej took seven minutes, as North Zone captain Jayant Yadav changed the field for almost every ball. When he didn’t switch the field, he would ask fielders to swap their position from cover to mid-wicket. A fielder would be asked to come close in, before being told to go back.
Bengaluru: A groundsman stands on a tarpaulin sheet placed on the outfield amid rain during the third day of the Duleep Trophy semi-final cricket match between South Zone and North Zone, at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Friday, July 7, 2023. (PTI Photo/Shailendra Bhojak)(PTI07_07_2023_000218B)
Baltej would start his run-up and drop the ball mid-way through the run-up. Later, he would complain about the dampness in the run-up area. At the other end, Rana would abandon his run-up mid-way and ask for sawdust. In another instance, one of the North fielders asked substitutes for help to clean spikes on his shoes. But the umpires asked them to go back. The two substitutes would then take an eternity to leave the outfield.
“I’ve come across a lot of games where a team is trying to delay in the final few overs because it gives advantage, which is obviously not wrong on their part. Some will say it is not in the spirit of the game, but even if I was the captain, I would have done the same thing,” South Zone captain Hanuma Vihari would say later on.
In search of quick runs, South would lose the wickets of Bhui, Varma and Washington Sundar. But KV Sasikant’s six off Rana with 14 runs would settle the nerves for South Zone before his dismissal an over later adding to the tw.
It could have easily ended in a frustrating draw for South, who started the day at 21/0, and lost the wickets of B Sai Sudharsan, R Samarth and Mayank Agarwal.
The teams took an early lunch as rain interrupted the play between 10:23-11:50 am. Keeping one eye on the fading light, Agarwal’s 57-ball 54 and a 42-ball 43 from captain Vihari had propelled South in the second session during which they scored 115 runs in 14.1 overs for the loss of two wickets before a heavy downpour stopped play from 1.50 to 3:50 pm.

Elsewhere at Alur, West Zone booked their place in the final on the basis of first innings lead as their match against East Zone ended in a draw after rain halted play.