Duleep Trophy 2025, WZ vs CZ: Malewar, Shubham’s fifties help Central Zone minimise deficit on Day 2

The second day of the Duleep Trophy 2025 semi-final between West Zone and Central Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground in Bengaluru witnessed a thrilling brand of CRICKET. West Zone rode on Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 184 to post 438; however, Central Zone bounced back brilliantly through Danish Malewar and Shubham Sharma, both registering half-centuries to ensure their side minimized the deficit. At stumps, Central’s score stood at 229 for 2, trailing by 209 runs with eight wickets in hand.

Resuming Day 2 at 363 for 6, the West Zone looked to post a big score with Tanush Kotian and Shardul Thakur at the crease. Thakur started the day by bringing up his half-century. Kotian carried forward his knock before falling for 76. The pair added 84 runs for the seventh wicket before a mix-up led to Thakur’s run out for 64.

West Zone’s innings witnessed a collapse after that as Harsh Dubey and Saransh Jain picked up three wickets apiece, cleaning up the tail easily. West Zone were eventually bowled out for 438, losing their last four wickets for just 27 runs.

Central Zone’s innings began strongly, thanks to their openers Aayush Pandey and Malewar. Pandey hammered eight fours in his 40 before Arzan Nagwaswalla dismissed him. Shubham Sharma, who walked in next to the crease, took his time to get set.

Meanwhile, Malewar slammed his seventh first-class half-century. Together, Malewar and Shubham added 93 runs for the second wicket. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja finally broke the stand, drawing an edge from Malewar on 76. The Central Zone captain, Rajat Patidar, then joined Shubham and ensured no further wickets fell late in the day. Patidar remained unbeaten on 47 off 59 balls, while Shubham held the other end on 60 not out. Their unbroken 69-run partnership placed Central at 229 for 2 by stumps.

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