Virat Kohli’s last red-ball captain smashes epic double ton in Duleep Trophy
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Delhi Ranji skipper Ayush Badoni, who was Virat Kohli's last-ball captain, has been an unmatchable talent in recent times in the Indian domestic circle, as he advanced to the next level of supremacy with a stunning double hundred in the Duleep Trophy match against East Zone.
The Duleep Trophy 2025 marks the beginning of the domestic season for India in 2025-26. North Zone, East Zone, Central Zone, and Northeast Zone were all made to clash in the quarter-final contest, and the two winners would advance to play against South Zone and West Zone, who are awaiting them in the semi-finals.
The North Zone side was supposed to be led by skipper Shubman Gill; however, due to his unavailability, Haryana batter Ankit Kumar adopted the role and excelled in his Duleep Trophy captaincy debut.
Ayush Badoni propels North Zone into Duleep Trophy semi-finals with a heroic double-hundred
North Zone took on East Zone in the Duleep Trophy encounter, as Ankit Kumar led them in the quarterfinal alongside Riyan Parag as the opponent skipper. Sent in to bat first, North Zone batters had starts but could not convert them into something big, as Kanhaiya Wadhawan and Ayush Badoni remained their top scorers with 76 and 63 runs, respectively.
Having made 405 in the first innings, Jammu & Kashmir speedster Auqib Nabi shone as the East Zone were all out for just 230 runs. Nishant Sindhu, Mayank Dagar, and Arshdeep Singh picked a wicket each, while Harshit Rana picked 2 wickets.
In return, coming into bat with a first-innings lead, the North Zone batters did not have to worry about winning the game, since they already had the winning factor under their control. Hence, they looked flawless as Ankit Kumar missed on a spectacular double hundred after being caught at mid-on for 198 runs.
Yash Dhull also got a great hundred and was dismissed for 133 runs off the East Zone skipper's bowling, and then came in Ayush Badoni, the showman. The Delhi skipper shocked all with the performance, as he scored 204* and batted till the end, putting on two 150+ partnerships alongside the skipper Ankit Kumar and later Nishant Sindhu, who too amassed a well-made 68.
Why did the North Zone not go for the Outright victory opportunity? Captain explains
North Zone skipper Ankit Kumar revealed their team's reason to back out from the plan of an outright victory and rather continue batting, which also helped them keep Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh as fresh as possible before the Asia Cup contest.
“If we wanted, we could have gone for the result because we had upper hand. But we didn’t try because we were in the lead in the first innings. We did very good batting in the first innings and then bowling. We also wanted to keep Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana as much fresh as possible (ahead of the upcoming Asia Cup)," he said.
"But we made some wrong decisions that we couldn’t click in the batting in the first innings. Otherwise, we could have taken even more of an upper hand in the first innings," the skipper added.
Central Zone advanced to the semi-finals under Rajat Patidar's captaincy
Alongside the North Zone team, who qualified for the semi-finals of the Duleep Trophy 2025 and will feature against the South Zone in the semis, the other quarter-final winner, the Central Zone, who also had a first-innings lead over the NortheastZone, qualified from the other end.
The Central Zone squad was supposed to be led by wicket-keeper batter Dhruv Jurel, but since he was ruled out due to injury, RCB skipper Rajat Patidar, who was announced as Jurel's deputy in the tournament, took over as the team's skipper.
Patidar led by example with a stunning hundred in the first innings and followed it with a stunning half-century in the second, handing Central Zone a comfortable walk into the Duleep Trophy semis, where they would face West Zone.
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