Tilak Varma's South Zone beats North Zone to seal spot in Duleep Trophy final against East

Tilak Varma's unbeaten half-century carried South Zone into the Duleep Trophy final after they chased down North Zone's target of 181 runs at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence. The captain led by example, scoring 116 not out in the first innings before finishing unbeaten on 51 as South registered a comfortable seven-wicket win.

Notably, India’s T20I vice-captain came to the crease at No. 4 after South lost two wickets shortly before lunch and joined R Smaran with the side needing to



recover in the chase. The pair then added an unbroken 80 runs to take South through to the final. Smaran played the perfect role of a second fiddle, scoring unbeaten 31 as he was very good in regularly rotating the strike against the spin attack.

In the meantime, Tilak survived a close LBW appeal from left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq with his first delivery. He then batted cautiously before opening up once the target was reduced to below 50, using a wider range of strokes to finish the chase.