East Zone Dominates South Zone to Claim Duleep Trophy
Ishan Kishan’s East Zone did not just win the Duleep Trophy. They smothered South Zone, sat on the game, and refused to get up until the trophy was theirs.
By the end of the fourth day in Bengaluru, the contest was already reduced to a formality. East Zone closed on 212 for 5 in their second innings, a scarcely believable 584 runs ahead. Any hope of final-day drama vanished with that number. The fifth day became something else entirely: an exhibition of control, patience and, at times, cruelty.
East Zone grind South into the dust
East Zone could have declared overnight. Kishan did not. He sent his batters back out, intent on squeezing every last ounce of resistance from South Zone’s bowlers.
Under a grey sky, South’s quicks finally found a hint of movement. Kumar Kushagra, the centurion from the first innings, added only 12 more before departing. Mohammed Siraj hit his lengths with familiar menace, but the door he cracked open was quietly slammed shut at the other end.
At No. 7, Md Kounain Quraishi dug in. Just his second first-class match. No nerves on display. He blocked, left, nudged, waited. He also found the perfect foil in Anukul Roy. The left-hander slipped through the gears with ease, happy to absorb pressure one over, then launch in the next. Tripurana Vijay copped the worst of it, Roy picking him off for a couple of clean sixes that underlined the imbalance between bat and ball.
South Zone, chasing miracles, chased ghosts instead. Reviews went up more in hope than conviction. By the 76th over, they had burned through all three, each one a small admission that the game had long since gone. At lunch, East Zone’s stranglehold felt complete: Quraishi unbeaten on 76, Roy on 37, both set for the long haul.
Quraishi’s coming-of-age ton
Spin took over after the interval. The story did not change.
Roy ticked off a composed half-century, rotating strike, punishing anything loose. Quraishi, methodical and unflustered, kept marshalling the innings. Every over he survived tightened the noose. Every boundary he found rubbed it in.
The milestone eventually came. A maiden first-class hundred, carved out with patience and a sharp eye for scoring opportunities. No wild leap, no exaggerated celebration, but the intent was clear in what followed. Vijay, again the target, disappeared for back-to-back sixes as Quraishi immediately shifted from consolidation to dominance, hauling the lead beyond 750.
The partnership swelled to 150, a stand that felt less like a flourish and more like a statement. Roy finally fell in the 99th over, his resistance ending but the damage long done.
Kishan needed just one more over to make up his mind. He walked in, shook hands, and with that declaration, sealed East Zone’s third Duleep Trophy title.
Kishan’s imprint and Jharkhand’s stamp
This triumph carried a clear signature. Kishan’s.
Already a title-winning captain in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last season, he extended that domestic success into the longer format with an authority that never really dipped across the game. His match aggregate of 350 runs – the highest ever in a Duleep Trophy fixture – earned him the Player of the Match award and underpinned a victory built on relentless run-scoring.
The Jharkhand imprint ran deep through this East Zone side. Kushagra’s first-innings hundred, Quraishi’s breakout ton, and vital contributions from Shikhar Mohan all fed into a performance that looked less like a regional combination and more like a well-drilled unit.
On the other side, Tilak Varma, the South Zone captain, could only watch the mountain grow. He walked away with the Player of the Series award, but also with a lingering regret. He admitted he had not done enough on the opening day, when South needed a statement and instead ceded control. East Zone pounced, piling up a 708-run first-innings lead that effectively ended the contest before it had time to breathe.
Kishan, asked to reflect, called himself a “good leader” with a smile, and spoke of his time away from the Indian team as a “transformation” – a phase that made him calmer, more aware, but still ravenous for runs and results.
The numbers back that up. This was the third-highest aggregate in any Duleep Trophy match, and it stretched Kishan’s unbeaten streak as a first-class captain to 16 games.
For East Zone, the title is the headline. For Kishan, the real story might be what comes next.
