DULEEP TROPHY | Semifinals promise much as Central battles East and South spars with North

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The cream of Indian cricket’s second rung will be in action as the 2026-27 Duleep Trophy semifinal fixtures get underway at the BCCI Centre of Excellence from Sunday.

Defending champion Central Zone will take on East while last season’s finalist South Zone will spar with North.

East and North notched up contrasting victories in the quarterfinals. Where East, marshalled by Ishan Kishan, recorded a thumping innings and 210-run win over North East, Kanhaiya Wadhawan’s North conjured a dramatic 52-run success despite West Zone coasting at 195 for three while chasing 287.

Teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi could only score eight runs for East but picked up two wickets with his left-arm spin in the second essay. The last-four clash will offer him another opportunity at bettering his middling First Class numbers (215 runs from 13 innings at average of 16.53).

Keeping him silent will be high on Central skipper Rajat Patidar’s priorities, and it remains to be seen if off-spinner Saransh Jain can aid him in this. Saransh is part of the roster but made his India debut in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo, which kept him on the field until Thursday.

But fellow India international Gurnoor Brar — who didn’t play either Test in Sri Lanka — has been added to the North Zone squad and participated in Saturday morning’s practise. His entry further bolsters North’s pace attack, for it already has Anshul Kamboj and Arshdeep Singh.

North Zone’s Abid Mushtaq after winning the the Duleep Trophy 2026 Quarterfinal 2 against West Zone, played at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) grounds, in Bengaluru on August 26, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
K. MURALI KUMAR

Jammu & Kashmir left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq starred in the win over West with a match-haul of nine for 99. Whether he gets the same purchase at CoE Ground 2 as he did on the red-soil wicket at Ground 1 will be intriguing to watch.

South has a solid batting line-up, led by skipper Tilak Varma, R. Smaran — 2025-26 Ranji Trophy’s leading scorer with 950 runs — and Karun Nair. There is also Shaik Rasheed, the highly rated 21-year-old, who made 627 runs in Andhra’s dash to the Ranji quarterfinals last season.