Duleep Trophy final: South Zone's Hanuma Vihari scores fighting fifty as West Zone bowlers dominate

Andhra Pradesh-born cricketer Hanuma Vihari set stage for South Zone on Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy final against West Zone, scoring a gritty half-century at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. Rain interruption meant that only 65 overs were possible on the opening day. West Zone won the toss and asked South Zone to bat. South Zone did not get off to the best of starts. They lost opener R Samarth, who edged to wicketkeeper off Chintan Gaja’s bowling. Mayank Agarwal and Tilak Varma looked to revive South Zone after that early blow, but Agarwal, despite collecting regular boundaries, was caught at the hands of Sarfaraz Khan in the slip cordon off Sheth’s bowling, after going for a loose drive. With eight fours to his name, Vihari got to his fifty in 103 deliveries. Vihari was involved in a 79-run stand for the third wicket with Tilak Varma, who was recently called up to the India T20I squad for the West Indies series. Vihari then collected one more boundary before being dismissed for 63 by Shams Mulani in the 58th over. Tilak Varma, meanwhile, got a respite when he looked to loft a delivery against Dharmendrasinh Jadeja’s ball, and he mistimed this shot, eventually evading the mid-on fielder. Things were definitely not easy for Vihari and Co after they lost Tilak. Wickets started falling in quick succession. Ricky Bhui in the 49th, Sachin Baby in the 54th and then the crucial wicket of Vihari in the 58th. By the time Vihari was dismissed, South Zone were 165/6 and were in a spot of bother. And at stumps on Wednesday, South Zone were 182/7 with Vijaykumar Vyshak (5*) and Washington Sundar (9*) unbeaten. Arzan Nagwaswalla, Chintan Gaja and Shams Mulani took two wickets each while Atith Sheth got one. Vihari has so far scored 839 runs from 16 Tests for India. His last of those Tests came against England in the rescheduled Edgbaston Test in July 2022. Brief scores: South Zone 182/7 in 65 overs (Vihari 63, Tilak 40; Shams Mulani 2/19, Chintan Gaja 2/27) vs West Zone.