Live Updates: Duleep Trophy Semifinal Between West Zone Vs Central Zone, South Zone Vs North Zone – News18

Read more

Cheteshwar Pujara, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Hanuma Vihari and Sarfaraz Khan will be in action from today with the semifinals of 2023 Duleep Trophy getting underway. In the first semifinal, a star-studded West Zone will take on Central Zone at the KSCA Cricket Ground in Alur. In the second semifinal, South Zone will face North Zone at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Pujara, a veteran of 103 Tests and over 7000 runs, has scripted tales of valour over the years. But now he finds himself out of reckoning for India.

Shaw and Sarfaraz also fall under that redemption line, but there is a subtle subtext to it. Reasons more than cricket have contributed to them remaining outside the India tent.

Sarfaraz is a sailor in the same boat. He has envious numbers too in the domestic circuit. He remains one of those few batsmen to have scored over 900 runs in two successive seasons (2020-21, 2021-22).

Suryakumar, on the other hand, is an integral part of India’s white ball squads. But the Mumbaikar has not been able to replicate that success in the longer format.

Washington Sundar will be itching to prove his long form fitness level after a gap of nearly six months as he takes to the field for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy semifinal against North Zone.

While North demolished North East Zone by 511 runs in the quarter-final, the South gained direct entry into the semi-final based on their performance in the previous edition.

The match will be important for some of the current and future India hopefuls and Washington is the most notable among them.

Three national selectors are currently in Bengaluru (Salil Ankola is supposed to track the national team in the West Indies) for the two semi-finals and they will certainly watch the off-spinner and the left-handed batter’s performance and fitness with lot of interest.

The other name that would generate a lot of interest is left-handed batter Sai Sudharshan, whose silken strokes during the IPL had caught the imagination of the fans and is being considered a serious future India prospect.