Duleep Trophy Final: Champagne on Ice For East Zone

Chennai: The Duleep Trophy final, as a contest, was effectively over by lunch on the fourth day. When South Zone were bowled out for 336 in reply to East Zone’s imposing first innings total of 708, the champagne was put on ice. For East, it would be a fitting triumph on Thursday at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, the same venue where they last lifted the title 14 years ago.

East skipper Ishan Kishan had already made it clear that he saw the final as a one-innings shootout, so there was no surprise when East opted to bat again rather than enforce the follow-on. Kishan then added insult to injury, cracking a brisk 80. At the close of the penultimate day, East were 212 for 5 with an overall lead of 584. The only question now is whether East will declare and give South a target, or continue to frustrate their opponents.

South had begun the day positively, with C.V. Milind and skipper Tilak Varma adding 78 for the seventh wicket — their highest partnership of the innings. East had the advantage of taking the second new ball, but Milind and Tilak attacked it with freedom, finding boundaries regularly and refusing to allow the bowlers to settle.

The resistance, however, ended when Milind fell to a sharp catch at short-leg off left-arm spinner Shikhar Mohan. South’s lower order then folded in a hurry. From 318 for six, they were bundled out for 336, with Tilak the last man dismissed. The skipper, who had held the innings together from one end, agonisingly missed out on a century by a run. He drove an off-spinner Kounain Quraishi straight back at him, and the bowler made no mistake.

There was action at either end of the lunch interval. Once East began their second innings, attention naturally turned to 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. With the result effectively beyond doubt, the teenager had the freedom to entertain the sparse crowd, but his eagerness proved his undoing. Charging down the pitch to wallop off-spinner T. Vijay, he was completely outfoxed and stumped.

Mohammed Siraj, meanwhile, finally opened his account in the final with the wicket of the other opener, Abhimanyu Easwaran, who edged one to slip. Kishan then took centre stage, joining forces with Mohan for a 126-run third-wicket stand. The East skipper eventually fell while attempting another big hit.