East Zone is one step away from winning its third Duleep Trophy title after it secured a first-innings lead against South Zone at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Wednesday.
Coming into the day, East Zone needed just four wickets to secure itself a lead and immediately took the new ball to aid its pursuit. However, Tilak Varma (99, 211b, 9×4) and CV Milind proved obstinate for the first hour and a half. Milind played a number of strokes that belied his batting position in a confident 43 as the pair added 76 to the overnight score.
From the other end, Tilak continued his excellent batting form. Resuming from 56 overnight, he started the day with a pair of crisply-timed drives against Mohammed Shami, and kept the scoreboard moving with the unhurried calm that has characterised his prolific run through this tournament.
Milind’s resistance would come to an end courtesy of a sharp effort from Sudip Gharami at short leg to pouch an inside-edge off Shikhar Mohan’s bowling. Tripurana Vijay came and went a few overs later in run-out after a mix-up caused by Tilak’s attempts to farm the strike.
The dismissal was cue for Mohammed Siraj to stride to the crease with the support of the crowd behind him, and the 32-year-old defended his first two deliveries to wild cheers. That defence soon deserted him a few deliveries later as he was trapped in-front by a full ball by Mukesh Kumar to leave South Zone nine down.
The paucity of partners quickly constricted Tilak as he attempted to reach his century, and the pressure soon told as he drilled a return catch back to Md Kounain Qureshi on 99. His dismissal brought South Zone’s innings to a close on 336, surrendering a lead of 372 runs.
East Zone’s second innings was largely academic, and there was perhaps an element of playing to the crowd in Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Abhimanyu Easwaran’s decision to exchange first strike.
The Jharkhand duo of Ishan Kishan and Shikhar Mohan had shown great patience to add 94 together in the first innings, but their second union saw them add 126 runs with far more abandon.
| Photo Credit:
R RAGU
The Jharkhand duo of Ishan Kishan and Shikhar Mohan had shown great patience to add 94 together in the first innings, but their second union saw them add 126 runs with far more abandon.
| Photo Credit:
R RAGU
Sooryavanshi, however, cast his flamboyant instincts aside as he played out the first over for no run, and did not attempt an attacking shot at all. Indeed, his first earnest attempt at aggression caused his downfall stumped off Vijay, just three balls after Easwaran had edged Siraj to first slip.
The dismissals brought Shikhar Mohan (52, 85b, 5×4, 1×6) and Ishan Kishan (80, 98b, 9×4, 3×6) together once again. The Jharkhand duo had shown great patience to add 94 together in the first innings, but their second union saw them add 126 runs with far more abandon.
Kishan in particular cut loose, repeatedly dancing down the track to take the spinners to task down the ground. He brought up his half-century off 66 deliveries before carting Vijay for four consecutive boundaries, the third of which gave him the record for most runs in a single Duleep Trophy match.
His onslaught finally came to an end when he ballooned an MD Nidheesh slower ball up into the air.
Mohan was more content to take his time, playing second-fiddle to Kishan for much of their partnership. He received a reprieve when Ricky Bhui dropped him over the boundary rope on 23 but drove with authority down the ground on his way to a half-century off 81 balls before falling leg-before to Shaik Rasheed four balls later.
Gharami was also run out cheaply but Kumar Kushagra – who was named in the latest India A squad in the middle of the day – and Qureshi added 52 as they batted till Stumps to give East Zone a 584-run lead heading into the final day of play.
Published on Sep 09, 2026
