Duleep Trophy Final: Central Zone Seizes Control Of The Match With Yash Rathod’s Stellar Show On Day 3

Duleep Trophy Final: The Rajat Patidar-led Central Zone continues to hold on to the edge over South Zone on day three of the Duleep Trophy Final. Yash Rathod's classy knock has kept the hopes up high for CEZ. While the cricketer missed out on his maiden first-class double hundred in the competition, his efforts would pay dividends.

South Zone sought to rally with the ball, picking up some key wickets, which led to a lower-order collapse. But the Central Zone batters did significant damage by racking up crucial runs on the scoreboard.

Central Zone Seizes Control On Day Three Of Duleep Trophy Final

Day three of the Duleep Trophy Final witnessed some thrilling action, with Yash Rathod and Saransh Jain returning to bat after their day two heroics. Rathod converted his 135 into a spectacular knock against the South Zone, scoring 194 runs off 286 balls.

Saransh Jain also put up a decent showcase with a 193-ball 69, with Deepak Chahar putting up a firm 49-ball 37 to keep the score going.

However, a lower-order collapse took over, with Kumar Kartikeya and Aditya Thakare scoring just eight runs and one run, respectively.

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South Zone bowlers Gurjapneet Singh and Ankit Sharma picked up their respective four-wicket hauls, while MD Nidheesh and Vasuki Koushik picked up a wicket each to bowl out the Central Zone at 511 runs.

South Zone Return To Bat In Day Three Action 

South Zone returned to bat in their second innings, with Tanmay Agarwal and Mohit Kale coming out to bat. But they did not make a substantial impact, with Tanmay falling at 26 runs while Kale was dismissed at 38.

Saransh Jain returned to wreak havoc with the ball as he took down Mohit Kale via an LBW. Kuldeep Sen also contributed with a wicket after he bowled out Tanmay Agarwal.

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South Zone scored 129/2 at stumps on day three, with Ravichandran Smaran scoring 37* while Ricky Bhui picked up 26* runs. Both batters would return to action on day four of the thrilling Duleep Trophy Final.