Duleep Trophy Live, Semifinals: Focus on Sooryavanshi in East Zone vs Central; South battle North

The Duleep Trophy 2026-27 semifinals are in their second day today, with Central Zone and South Zone vying for dominance in their respective encounters. Central entered the semifinals as defending champions, while South Zone arrived as last year's runners-up. Central overcame a confident East Zone team that had already secured a spot in the semifinals after a dominant win over North East Zone.

In the other semifinal, North Zone faced a resilient South Zone side that had just defeated West Zone by 52 runs in the quarterfinals.

At the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1 in Bengaluru, the focus remains on 15-year-old East Zone vice-captain Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who took over the captaincy baton from Ishan Kishan on day 1. Sooryavanshi's youth is evident, as his first-class record of 215 runs from 13 innings at 16.53 suggests he has a lot to demonstrate.

On day one of the semifinals, East Zone chose to bowl against the defending champions, Central Zone. This decision proved successful, with Central being dismissed for just 266 in their 80.1 overs. Leading the bowling attack for East Zone were Abhijit Sarkar (3/38) and Mukesh Kumar (3/56). On the other side, North Zone elected to bat first but were contained at 195 all out, thanks to the four-wicket haul of Vidwath Kaverappa.

In their second innings, South Zone currently stand at 40/2, trailing by 155 runs.