Duleep Trophy 2025–26 semi-final review: Saransh Jain, Gurajapneet Singh, and N Jagadeesan shine as South and Central Zones reach finals.
Duleep Trophy, the first domestic tournament of this season, is entering its climax stage with the South Zone taking on the Central Zone in the final, starting 11 September at Bengaluru. Both these sides got to this stage by virtue of taking the first innings lead in their respective semi-final matches.
While the South Zone, led by Mohammed Azharudeen, brushed aside the North Zone by taking a rather comfortable margin in the first innings, the Central Zone’s clash with the West Zone was much closer than what the scoreboard suggests.
Courtesy of a splendid 184 and fifties by all-rounders, Tanush Kotian & skipper Shardul Thakur, West Zone (WZ) reached 438 in the first innings. But it didn’t prove to be enough as a collective effort by the batters of the Central Zone (CZ) propelled them to take a 162-run lead. Though none of the batters have scored a century, there were six fifty-plus scores, which were instrumental in them reaching the summit clash.
The South Zone (SZ) game with the North Zone (NZ) was looking close as well, but a batting collapse in the latter’s first innings proved a detrimental factor. SZ made 536 courtesy of a near double century by Narayan Jagadeesan, and despite Nishant Sindhu’s all-round efforts, NZ fell short of the first innings total by 175 runs.
Read More: Top performers in Quarter-Final stage of Duleep Trophy 2025-26
Let us look at who were the major talking points from the two Duleep Trophy Semi-final fixture:
Best performers of the Duleep Trophy 2025/26 Semi-final
Saransh Jain (3/121 & 5/84, 63)
Central Zone’s Saransh Jain bagged the player of the match award in the team’s game against West Zone. In the first innings of the match, Saransh picked three wickets, including that of the centurion Ruturaj Gaikwad and dangerous Shams Mulani. This helped CZ to keep the WZ’s total down to 438.
In pursuit of a huge first innings score, the CZ batters applied themselves well and had achieved the lead before the sixth wicket fell. Saransh walked out at No.8 and added 63, which was instrumental in taking the game away from the Sahrdul Thakur-led team.
Though the game was always heading towards a draw, the 32-year-old off-spinner gave a good account of himself, picking five wickets in the second innings, and did his reputation no harm.
Ruturaj Gaikwad (184 & 16)
Making a return to competitive cricket following an injury he suffered in the IPL, Ruturaj Gaikwad was at his elements in this fixture against CZ. After not being picked in the Asia Cup or the India A team squad for the Australia series, this can be seen as a statement to say he belongs to the highest level.
Coming to the game, Ruturaj didn’t find much support from the other end as WZ lost five wickets for 179. So it was up to the right-hander and the lower middle-order batters (Kotian and Shardul) to resurrect the innings, which they eventually did. Gaikwad converted it into a big century (184), and it gave his team a chance to post a competitive total (438), which unfortunately proved to be less. While his knock wasn’t enough to take WZ to the final, this could be a perfect comeback for the CSK skipper.
Read More: Duleep Trophy 2025-26: Overview of zonal squads, schedule & players to watch out for
Narayan Jagadeesan (197 & 52*)
South Zone’s keeper batter Narayan Jagadeesan had a perfect game and further strengthened his claim to be among the backup wicket-keepers for India in Tests. Not so long ago, the Tamil Nadu opener was picked as a surprise back-up wicket-keeper, following injury to Rishabh Pant. While Dhruv Jurel donned the gloves, Jagadeesan’s maiden call-up must have given the latter a major boost.
The 29-year-old continued his knack of scoring big daddy hundreds as he hammered his 11th first-class ton (197) and one which would be enough for SZ to secure a first innings lead. Jagadeesan capped off a perfect game for himself by scoring a half-century in the second innings as well.
Gurjapneet Singh (4/96)
Chasing a tall first innings total of 536, NZ’s innings was dented on two occasions by SZ’s Gurjapneet Singh. Early on his spell, the left-arm pacer snapped skipper Ankit Kumar and young Yash Dhull to leave NZ reeling at 38/2. Just when NZ found some sort of a partnership (171-run stand for the fourth wicket between Shubham Kajuria and Nishant Sindhu), Gurjapneet dismissed Sindhu.
This particular wicket triggered a collapse and ensured SZ breezed past the side from North.
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