Duleep Trophy 2025: South Zone vs North Zone, Semi-Final 1 Match Preview

South Zone square off against North Zone in the first semi-final of the 2025 Duleep Trophy, starting from Thursday, September 4, at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground in Bengaluru.

Ankit Kumar-led North Zone made it to the semi-final after beating East Zone by virtue of a first-innings lead in a quarter-final clash. Ankit Kumar and Kanhaiya Wadhawan smashed half-centuries to help North Zone get to 405 in the first innings. Jammu & Kashmir's Auqib Nabi bagged a five-for to help his team bowl out East Zone for 230.

In the second innings, Ankit Kumar (198) and Yash Dhull (133) smashed belligerent hundreds. However, Ayush Badoni's unbeaten 204 off 223 balls helped North Zone finish on 658/4 when the two teams decided to shake hands.

North Zone could bring in Yudhvir Singh Charak and Punjab speedster Gurnoor Brar into the side to replace Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana, who are a part of India's Asia Cup squad.

South Zone were handed direct entry into the semi-final by virtue of playing the Duleep Trophy final the last time the tournament was played in the zonal format in 2023-24 season. 

South Zone are a depleted side, with several important players missing out due to injuries and national duty. Captain Tilak Varma will not be available as he has been called up to the India squad for the 2025 Asia Cup. Meanwhile, R Sai Kishore will miss the clash due to a finger injury. Punjab Kings' pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak has been ruled out due to a side strain. Vasuki Koushik has been called in as his replacement.

KL Rahul is also not around for this clash and the onus will be on the likes of Devdutt Padikkal, N Jagadeesan, and skipper Mohammed Azharuddeen to take bulk of the load as far as the batting department is concerned. Right-arm seamer Gurjapneet Singh could be the bowler to watch out for.

Match Details

Pitch Report

The first session could have seam movement and bounce on all four days, like in the quarterfinal. The surface generally eases out as the day progresses. Fast bowlers would want to make use of the new ball, especially with the conditions expected to be overcast for a major part of the encounter.

Head-to-Head record in Duleep Trophy

Predicted Playing XIs

South Zone:

Tanmay Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Ricky bhui, N Jagadeesan, Mohammed Azharuddeen (C & WK), Shaik Rasheed/Salman Nizar, Ankit Sharma, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vasuki Koushik, Gurjapneet Singh, Basil NP/MD Nidheesh.

North Zone:

Ankit Kumar (C), Shubham Khajuria, Yash Dhull, Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Kanhaiya Wadhawan (WK), Sahil Lotra, Mayank Dagar, Auqib Nabi, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Gurnoor Brar.