In a series of inspiring events, North Zone displayed a fighting comeback in their Duleep Trophy game against West Zone on Day 3 at the BCCI Centre of Excellence. Chasing 287 runs for a place in the semi-finals, West Zone finished the day at 220 for 7, still needing 67 runs with three wickets in hand.
West Zone in big trouble
West Zone was at the driving seat during a commanding 111-run stand between Ruturaj Gaikwad (66) and Musheer Khan (96). However, Gaikwad's run-out turned the momentum in North Zone's favour. Shortly after, Musheer fell four agonizing runs short of a century, sparking a middle-order collapse that completely revived North Zone's hopes in the final session.
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Earlier in the day, North Zone resumed their second innings at 107/4 and were bundled out for 222. Ayush Badoni led the scoring with a swift 50, along with a gritty 44 from Nishant Sindhu. Spinners Tanush Kotian (4/46) and Shams Mulani (4/78) did the damage for West Zone to restrict the target to 287.
North Zone on the cusp of a memorable win
With Urvil Patel unbeaten at 17 runs, keeping West Zone's hopes alive, the game heads into an edge-of-the-seat Day 4 finish, with both teams standing within striking distance of a memorable win.