Azharuddeen to lead South Zone in Duleep Trophy semifinals

admin — Sun, 31 Aug 2025 20:46:00 +0000

Kerala batter Mohammed Azharuddeen on Sunday replaced Tilak Varma as the South Zone captain for the Duleep Trophy semifinal against North Zone, starting at the BCCI Centre of Excellence on September 4.

Tilak Varma, who was originally named the South skipper, will not be playing the Duleep Trophy after he was named in the India squad for the upcoming Asia Cup.

Azharuddeen was the vice-captain of the side, and now that role has been handed to Tamil Nadu’s N Jagadeesan. Tamil Nadu left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore too will not be playing in the semifinal for South Zone as he is still recuperating from a hand injury that forced him to skip the recent Buchi Babu Trophy.

Ankit Sharma of Puducherry and Shaikh Rasheed of Andhra have been added to the South squad for the Duleep Trophy last four match. Both the players were already named in the standbys. Ankit is a left-arm spinner who has taken 168 wickets from 68 First-Class matches, while Rasheed is a 20-year-old top-order batter who has made 1204 runs from 19 Ranji Trophy games. He was drafted in by Chennai Super Kings during IPL 2025.

Revised South Zone squad: Mohammed Azharuddeen (Captain), Tanmay Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohit Kale, Salman Nizar, Narayan Jagadeesan, Tripurana Vijay, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Nidheesh MD, Ricky Bhui, Basil NP, Gurjapneet Singh, Snehal Kauthankar, Ankit Sharma, Shaikh Rasheed. Standbys: Mohit Redkar, R Smaran, Edhen Apple Tom, Andre Siddarth.

Published – September 01, 2025 02:16 am IST

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Ranji Trophy, Semi-Final: Mohammed Azharudeen’s 2nd First-Class Hundred Extends Kerala’s Advantage vs Gujarat

admin — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 13:13:54 +0000

Mohammed Azharudeen’s dogged 149 not out, his second hundred in red ball cricket.© X (Twitter)

Mohammed Azharudeen’s dogged 149 not out, his first hundred in red ball cricket in seven years, took Kerala to a commanding 418 for seven at stumps on day two of their Ranji Trophy semifinal against Gujarat on Tuesday. Kerala, who have not gone past the semifinals in the premier domestic red ball event, had resumed the day at 206 for four. Skipper Sachin Baby, who was on 69 overnight, did not trouble the scorers on the following day as he was removed by left-arm pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla on the second ball of the day.

A 149-run stand between Azharudeen and Salman Nizar (52 off 202) followed, taking Kerala past the 350-run mark. On day three, Kerala would like to bat as long as possible and then aim for the all-important first-innings lead over the home team on a flat track.

Azharudeen, who was on 30 overnight, carried his bat though the day with his unbeaten 149 coming off 303 balls. His gritty effort comprised 17 fours with majority of his boundaries coming on the off-side.

Remarkably, it was the 30-year-old’s second first-class hundred and first after seven years, having made his Ranji debut back in November 2015.

Nagwaswalla was the pick of Gujarat bowlers on Tuesday and has taken three wickets thus far. The left-arm pacer had got rid of Ahammed Imran (24) towards close of play as he frustrated the hosts with a 40-run stand with Azharudeen.

Kerala’s batting approach was questionable in good batting conditions. After accumulating 206 on the opening day, they could only add 212 on Tuesday.

Gujarat will have to be at their best with the bat to wrest the advantage from the visitors.

Brief scores: Kerala 418/7 in 177 overs (Mohammed Azharudeen 149 not out; Arzan Nagwaswalla 3/64).

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Azharuddeen to lead South Zone in Duleep Trophy semifinals

Ranji Trophy, Semi-Final: Mohammed Azharudeen’s 2nd First-Class Hundred Extends Kerala’s Advantage vs Gujarat