There was absolute drama that unfolded in the final session of the Duleep Trophy semifinal between North and South Zone. The incident which has triggered the 'Spirit Of Cricket' Debate once again saw North Zone led by Jayant Yadav resorting to time wasting tactics in order to stop South Zone from winning the match. It is pertinent to note that North Zone taken a marginal three-run lead in the first innings. However, they were aware of the fact it would be enough thet manage to draw the match.
However, despite North Zone's tactics, South Zone eventually came out on top with Sai Kishore hitting the winning runs. As per a report carried by Times Now, North Zone bowled just 5.5 overs in 53 minutes after the match resumed due to a rain delay in the final session. Even though this is not the first time such a tactic has been deployed by a team in Indian domestic cricket, North Zone received a lot of backlash on social media given that this was the semifinal fixture.
Ex-India player Dodda Ganesh termed North Zone's behaviour "unsportsmanlike". He even suggested that certain measures should be takeb to make sure that no team manages to implement such a tactic in future.
“Well done guys. A great win finally despite North Zone’s time-wasting tactics. Hopefully going forward the men at the helm take measures to curb the unsportsmanship behaviour #DuleepTrophy,” he tweeted.
Interestinglt though South Zone captain Hanuma Vihari said that he would have done the same if he was the North Zone captain. However, he did say that as per some this might not be in the "spirt of cricket."
"I’ve come across many games in domestic cricket where teams delay the over rate in the final session. This is not wrong on their part. Some may say that this is not in the spirit of the game, but I would have done the same thing if I was the North captain," Vihari said, as quoted by Sportstar.