East Zone Reach the Duleep Trophy Final as Shami Strikes Again; North Zone Fights Back to Lead South

Day 3 of the Duleep Trophy semi-finals in Bengaluru delivered a result in one match and a genuine swing in the other. East Zone booked their spot in the final, and Mohammed Shami gave India's selectors something to think about along the way.

East Zone chase down 159 to reach the final

Set 159 to win after Central Zone's second innings folded for 158, East Zone got there with four wickets in hand, reaching 162 for 6 in 39.3 overs to end the defending champions' title defence. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the 15-year-old who broke a 57-year-old fifty record on Day 2, again set the tone in the chase with a 43-ball 43 — three fours and a six — before he was dismissed in the 14th over off Yash, caught by a diving Rajat Patidar at mid-on. Captain Ishan Kishan then anchored the finish, seeing East Zone home unbeaten on 39 off 41 balls. Fittingly, it was Mohammed Shami who hit the winning runs.

Shami's five-for strengthens his comeback case

Shami's contribution went well beyond the winning hit. He finished with 5 wickets in the match — 2/42 in the first innings and 3/56 in the second — a return that will do his push for a recall to the Indian team no harm at all, at a time when the pace attack is being freshly assessed. Central Zone, who had bowled East Zone out for exactly 266 to match their own first-innings total, simply had no answer to Shami and the rest of the East Zone attack once their second innings got under way.

North Zone's fightback in the second semi-final

In the other semi-final, South Zone's first-innings total swelled from an overnight 285/9 to 312 all out, a lead of 117 over North Zone's 195. But North Zone, following on with that gap to close, responded with real intent: opener Sanat Sangwan was unbeaten on 73 and Ayush Badoni on 24 as North Zone reached 165 for 2 in 44 overs at tea. That combined total of 360 across their two innings puts North Zone 48 runs ahead of South Zone on aggregate, with eight second-innings wickets still in hand — a sharp reversal from the position South Zone held at the start of the day, built on Tilak Varma's unbeaten century.

What it means

East Zone now await the winner of the North-South semi-final in the final, with Sooryavanshi and Kishan both making a case for selectors watching the domestic season closely, and Shami doing the same from the bowling end. The second semi-final is very much alive: South Zone need early wickets on the final day to keep their spot in the final in reach, while North Zone will look to extend their lead and set a target Tilak Varma's side has to chase.

Keep track of the scores

Follow the final day of the North Zone-South Zone semi-final and the build-up to the Duleep Trophy final on SportGod's live matches page, and browse more cricket coverage across the domestic season.

Match results, bowling and batting figures for both semi-finals are verified against same-day reporting from Bengaluru, current as of September 1, 2026.