'Been part of very few close four-day games like this' - Mayank Agarwal after South Zone's Duleep Trophy final qualification

South Zone cruised into the 2023 Duleep Trophy final after a hard-fought semifinal win over North Zone at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. South Zone will now play West Zone, who entered the final on the basis of a first-innings lead in their drawn semi-final with Central Zone. Notably, the summit clash will begin on Wednesday, July 12th, in Bengaluru.

South Zone opener Mayank Agarwal was instrumental for his side, scoring crucial half-centuries in both the innings. Meanwhile, pacers Vidwath Kaverappa and Vijaykumar Vyshak each took fifers in the first and third innings, respectively.

After booking their spot in the Duleep Trophy final, Agarwal took to Twitter and shared a photo with his teammates. “Been part of very few close 4 day games like this one !! Top fight,” the 32-year-old captioned the post. 

See the post:

Been part of very few close 4 day games like this one !!

Top fight 🔥#DuleepTrophy #SZvsNZ pic.twitter.com/iFrQkysyRt

— Mayank Agarwal (@mayankcricket) July 8, 2023

Speaking of the semifinal clash, South Zone skipper Hanuma Vihari won the toss and decided to field first. South Zone bundled out North Zone for 198 runs thanks to Kaverappa’s fifer. Apart from Kaverappa, KV Sasikanth took two wickets while Vyshak, Sai Kishore and Washington Sundar each picked up one.

Meanwhile, Agarwal single-handedly led the team in their first innings, scoring a 115-ball 76 runs as South Zone scored 195. For North, skipper Jayant Yadav and Vaibhav Arora claimed three-wicket hauls while Baltej Singh and Harshit Rana grabbed two each. 

North Zone have battled in front of South’s bowling attack in the third innings as well. However, Prabhsimran came in to rescue his side, scoring 63 runs when no other batter scored more than 30 runs. Meanwhile, South's Vyshak picked up a fifer while Sai Kishore and Kaverappa grabbed three and two wickets, respectively.

Agarwal led the charge once again for South in the fourth innings, smashing 54 off 57, including seven boundaries. Skipper Vihari also made a significant contribution to his team, scoring 43 as South Zone won by two wickets to reach the Duleep Trophy final.