Bengaluru, Sept. 7 -- South Zone marched into the Duleep Trophy final after securing a decisive first-innings lead against North Zone, as their four-day semifinal ended in a draw at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground here today.
The foundation of South Zone's dominance was laid by opener N Jagadeesan, who produced a marathon 197 in the first innings, followed by an unbeaten 52 in the second. With his twin knocks, the Tamil Nadu batsman aggregated 249 runs in the contest, and was named in the India A squad for the upcoming home series against Australia A even before the semifinal concluded.
South's batting depth also came through in the first innings with Tanay Thyagarajan (58), Devdutt Padikkal (57) and Ricky Bhui (54) offering vital mi...