Yash Rathod’s 194 Puts Central Zone in Command of Duleep Trophy Final

Yash Rathod’s 194 Puts Central Zone in Command of Duleep Trophy Final

Yash Rathod narrowly missed out on a maiden first-class double century, but his commanding 194 laid the foundation for Central Zone’s strong position in the 2025–26 Duleep Trophy final against South Zone at the CEG Ground in Bengaluru. Central posted a mammoth 511 in their first innings before reducing South to 129/2 at stumps on Day 3, with the latter still trailing by 233 runs.

Match Summary:

  • Central Zone 511 all out (Yash Rathod 194, Rajat Patidar 101; Gurjapneet Singh 4-124, Ankit Sharma 4-180)

  • South Zone 149 & 129/2 (Mohit Kale 38, R. Smaran 37*; Kuldeep Sen 1-22)

  • South Zone trail by 233 runs

Rathod, Jain pile on the runs

Central Zone resumed Day 3 on 384/5, already ahead by 235, and extended their advantage thanks to significant lower-order contributions. Rathod anchored the innings superbly while Saransh Jain (69) and Deepak Chahar (37) chipped in with important cameos.

Jain, riding some luck after South Zone missed a caught-behind opportunity on 61, reached his second successive fifty before being bowled by Ankit Sharma while attempting a reverse sweep. Chahar later upped the tempo with aggressive strokes, including sixes off both Ankit and Gurjapneet Singh.

Rathod, who had been composed and fluent, started to look uncertain post-lunch and was eventually bowled for 194 by Gurjapneet, bringing an end to a superb 286-ball knock. Central’s innings wrapped up quickly thereafter, with the last four wickets falling for just 11 runs. Ankit bowled tirelessly, finishing with 4/180 from 44.1 overs, while Gurjapneet ended with 4/124.

South Zone show resolve in second innings

Facing a huge deficit of 362 runs, South Zone responded with a solid start. Openers Tanmay Agarwal and Mohit Kale saw off the new ball threat to take the team to 57/0 at tea. Kale, initially cautious, broke free with successive boundaries off Chahar, scoring four fours in three overs.

However, Central struck back in the evening session. Jain removed Kale leg-before with a quicker one, and soon after, Kuldeep Sen dismissed Agarwal in bizarre fashion — the batter left the ball only to see his off stump pegged back.

R. Smaran and Ricky Bhui, though, steadied the innings with positive intent. Smaran played some classy strokes and survived a close lbw call thanks to an inside edge. The pair added an unbroken 53-run stand for the third wicket before bad light stopped play 25 minutes early.

Looking Ahead

With two days remaining and South Zone still 233 runs behind, the final remains in Central Zone’s grip. A lot will depend on how Bhui and Smaran continue on Day 4 and whether the South Zone middle order can resist the pressure from Central’s spinners and pace attack.