Duleep Trophy: East Zone champions after 13 years, Kishan stars

East Zone are Duleep Trophy champions once again, ending a 13-year wait for the title after their final win over South Zone in Chennai.

Ishan Kishan’s combined 350 runs across both innings — 270 and 80 — made him the standout performer of the final, earning him the Player of the Match award.

East Zone’s first innings of 708 proved too much for South Zone, who were bowled out for 336 in reply.

Half-centuries and centuries from Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shikhar Mohan and Kumar Kushagra bolstered East Zone’s dominant first-innings total.

The final at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, held from September 6 to 10, ended without an outright result, handing East Zone the title on first-innings lead.

The Duleep Trophy is decided on first-innings lead when a match doesn’t produce an outright result within the scheduled days, as was the case in this final.

The final was played at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, running from September 6 to 10.

Ishan Kishan’s Player of the Match award recognised his rare feat of scoring a double-century and a half-century in the same first-class match.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the teenage batting prospect, was part of East Zone’s title-winning squad, gaining valuable first-class experience in a high-stakes final.

East Zone’s bowlers also played a key role in restricting South Zone to 336, setting up the platform from which Kishan’s batting sealed the outright title on lead.

East Zone’s title win ends a 13-year wait for the trophy, their last Duleep Trophy triumph having come well over a decade ago.

Ishan Kishan’s aggregate of 350 runs across both innings — 270 and 80 — is among the most dominant individual performances in a Duleep Trophy final.

Abhimanyu Easwaran (72), Shikhar Mohan (85) and Kumar Kushagra (101) all made significant contributions to East Zone’s massive first-innings 708.

Ishan Kishan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0