Overview

• South Zone posted 536 after resuming on 297-3, led by N. Jagadeesan’s 197 and supported by Ricky Bhui’s 54 and Tanay Thyagarajan’s 58, with North Zone yet to complete a reply.
• West Zone were bowled out for 438, built on Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 184, Tanush Kotian’s 76 and Shardul Thakur’s 64, before Central Zone closed at 229-2 with Danish Malewar 76, Shubham Sharma 60* and Rajat Patidar 47*.
• Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal, both omitted from India’s Asia Cup squad, fell for 25 and 4 respectively, with Khaleel Ahmed removing both in West Zone’s first innings.
• The BCCI directed national players to report directly to Dubai for a training block, resulting in absences such as Kuldeep Yadav, Tilak Varma, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana from the semifinals.
• Central and West also adjusted for setbacks, with Central missing captain-wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel due to dengue and West without injured Sarfaraz Khan, as the semifinals continue in Bengaluru.