East Zone clinch Duleep Trophy after 13 years

Chennai: East Zone clinched the Duleep Trophy for the third time on Thursday after overcoming South Zone via first innings at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. The triumph ended East Zone’s 13-year drought, with its previous title coming in the 2012-13 season.

Resuming their second innings, East Zone rode on a maiden first-class century from Md Kounain Quraishi (116 not out off 190 balls) and Anukul Roy’s 64 before declaring at 388/7 in 99.2 overs. Quraishi reached his century in the 96th over, while his seventh-wicket partnership with Roy extended to 150-. South Zone were also penalised five runs for slow over-rate.

East Zone’s title was built on a mammoth first-innings 708, featuring captain Ishan Kishan’s 270 and Kumar Kushagra’s 101. Kishan added 80 in the second innings to finish with 350 runs in the match. Jharkhand talents Kushagra and Shikhar Mohan, who scored 85 on debut, also played key roles.

South Zone pacer Mohammed Siraj bowled nine consecutive overs despite the result being virtually decided. After Kishan declared, celebrations erupted, with players dancing on the turf. Kishan and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi waved to spectators, with Sooryavanshi also joining the celebrations with a stump in hand.

Brief scores:

East Zone 708 and 388/7 in 99.2 overs (Md Kounain Quraishi 116, Ishan Kishan 80; MD Nidheesh 2-28, CV Milind 1-27) draw with South Zone 336 (Tilak Varma 99; Mukesh Kumar 3-62).

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