Duleep Trophy 2025: South Zone vs Central Zone, Final Match Preview

Published - 10 Sept 2025, 21:14 IST | Updated - 10 Sept 2025, 21:37 IST

While the world twists its head towards at the limelight surrounding the Asia Cup 2025, the domestic cricket faithfuls will be eagerly awaiting the start of the final match of the Duleep Trophy 2025 between South Zone and Central Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground, Bengaluru from September 11. While the daytime will be filled with red-ball action, fans will be able to stay hooked for the T20 action in the later part of the day. Notably, the summit clash will be a five-day fixture, unlike the previous rounds which were scheduled across four days.

South Zone won the competition in 2023-24, courtesy of which, they got a direct entry into the semi-finals for this season. They batted first in the semis against North Zone and gained a comfortable first-inning's lead to clear their way for the summit clash. However, the side will be without the services of Narayan Jagadeesan and Devdutt Padikkal, the most experienced batters in their line-up, as the duo has to be available for India A duties. Both have been named in the squad for two unofficial Tests, led by Shreyas Iyer.

Central Zone, on the other hand, will also be without the likes of Harsh Dubey, Manav Suthar, and Khaleel Ahmed as they too have been asked to report in Lucknow for the India A series against Australia A, beginning September 16. However, the in-form batting line-up of Danish Malewar, captain Patidar, Rathod and Saransh Jain would be looking to fire right from the word 'go'. Saransh, Player of the Match in the semis against West Zone for his 8 wickets and an unbeaten half-century, will enter the clash as the sole specialist spinner unless Patidar brings someone in.

The surface at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1 in Bengaluru hasn't been a tried-and-tested venue to play, as it made its debut for major First-Class matches with the ongoing tournament itself. However, from the little that is available, teams batting first have held an upper-edge over their opposition. As a result, better would sense would prevail if the captain winning the toss asks his counterpart to get the ball in their hands first. A batting paradise deck is expected to be on the cards.

Mohammed Azharuddeen (captain), Salman Nizar, Ricky Bhui, MR Kale, Shaik Rasheed, Ravichandran Smaran, C Andre Siddarth (wicketkeeper), Tanay Thyagarajan, Vasuki Koushik, Gurjapneet Singh, Nidheesh MD

Rajat Patidar (captain), Shubham Sharma, Danish Malewar, Ayush Pandey, Yash Rathod, Upendra Yadav, Manav Suthar, Saransh Jain, Deepak Chahar, Aditya Thakare, Kuldeep Sen