“The umpires were snoring?- Netizens slam North Zone for their EPIC time-wasting strategy against South Zone in Duleep Trophy semi-final

North Zone, led by Jayant Yadav, to the irritation of the watchers of the game, started changing their field on almost every ball.

“The umpires were snoring?- Netizens slam North Zone for their EPIC time-wasting strategy against South Zone in Duleep Trophy semi-final

Duleep Trophy semi-final (Image via Twitter)

In the semi-final match between North Zone and South Zone in Duleep Trophy on Saturday (July 8) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, the former were involved in an epic time-wasting drama. North Zone took 53 minutes to deliver just 5.5 overs and even though South Zone won the match, North Zone were heavily criticized for their time-wasting tactics and triggered the ‘spirit of cricket’ debate on social media.

After rain interrupted the match for about 100 minutes, South Zone had to score the required 32 runs in 5.5 overs and they knew they had to score it quickly. But North Zone, led by Jayant Yadav, to the irritation of the watchers of the game, started changing their field on almost every ball.

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The fielders could be seen running all the time, sometimes they came under the 30-yard circle, and sometimes they were placed near the boundary ropes. Due to this, an over took around 10 minutes to complete. However, after winning the match by two wickets, South Zone skipper Hanuma Vihari accepted that had this been the case for them, they would have done the same thing while trying to win the match.

“I’ve come across a lot of games where a team is trying to delay in the final few overs because it gives advantage, which is obviously not wrong on their part. Some will say it is not in the spirit of the game, but even if I was the captain, I would have done the same thing,” Vihari told reporters after the match.

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Check how Twitter reacted to North Zone’s time-wasting tactics against South Zone 

Netizens slams North Zone for their EPIC time wasting strategy against South Zone in Duleep Trophy
Duleep Trophy semi-final (Image via Twitter)

Meanwhile, talking about the match, North Zone put on 198 after being asked to bat first on the back of Prabhsimran Singh‘s 49, Ankit Kumar’s 33, and Harshit Rana’s 31 in the first innings. Later, South Zone were bowled out for 195 runs despite Mayank Agarwal’s 76 and Tilak Varma’s 46 runs.

North Zone would score 211 runs in their second innings and after that time-wasting drama, South Zone were able to chase the runs to win the match by two wickets. They will now face West Zone in the final, starting July 12.

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