North Zone lead by 139 with three wickets left, and a draw still sends South Zone through

North Zone are 139 runs ahead with three wickets standing, and they are the side under pressure. That is the arithmetic waiting at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 2 in Bengaluru when the final day of the second Duleep Trophy semi-final starts at 9.30am on Wednesday. South Zone took a first-innings lead of 117, and in a knockout that decides the match if nobody wins it. North have to bowl South out. South only have to be there at the end.

Tilak Varma batted 250 balls for that lead

South Zone were in trouble before their captain dug in. Tilak Varma finished unbeaten on 116 from 250 deliveries with nine fours, an innings with almost no risk in it, and he found a partner in Shreyas Gopal for a stand of 175 for the sixth wicket. Gopal made 87.

Then Varma did it again at the other end of the innings, adding 42 with last man Kavuri Saiteja to push South from a useful lead to a genuinely awkward one. They finished on 312 against North Zone’s 195. Those 117 runs are now worth more than any total either side puts on the board today.

North got in front, then stalled

North Zone’s second innings has been the more fluent of the two. Sanat Sangwan made 76 and Ayush Doseja 52, and Ayush Badoni’s 31 came from 37 balls with four fours, which in the context of this match counts as an assault. They were 256 for 7 at stumps, with Anshul Kamboj 29 not out and Nishant Sindhu on 20.

South Zone shared the wickets around. MD Nidheesh, Kavuri Saiteja and Shreyas Gopal have two each, Vidwath Kaverappa one. Nobody has run through North, and nobody has needed to.

What each side has to do today

North need runs and then time, in that order, and the two work against each other. A lead of 200 would give their bowlers something to defend, but every over spent getting there is an over South do not have to survive. With three wickets left and a tail behind them, Kamboj and Sindhu cannot spend long working out which way today is going.

South’s job is simpler to describe and not necessarily easier to do. Bat out the day, or chase whatever is set, and either result puts them in the final. Losing is the only outcome that eliminates them. Varma’s side have not looked like a team in a hurry all match, which given the rules is the correct way to play it.

East Zone are already waiting

Whoever comes through goes to Chennai to play East Zone, who knocked out the defending champions on Tuesday. Central Zone were beaten by four wickets after both first innings finished level on 266, and East chased 159 with Abhimanyu Easwaran and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi putting on 61 for the first wicket. Mukesh Kumar took three in the first innings and 4 for 44 in the second, and was named player of the match.

Ishan Kishan captains East Zone, with Sooryavanshi as his deputy and Mohammed Shami in the squad. The final runs from 6 to 10 September at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, which gives the winner of today three days off and East Zone four.

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