Ishan Kishan’s 350 runs power East Zone to Duleep Trophy title

Ishan Kishan’s aggregate of 350 runs across both innings powered East Zone to the Duleep Trophy title, won on first-innings lead over South Zone in Chennai.

Kishan scored 270 in the first innings and followed it with 80 in the second, earning the Player of the Match award as East Zone ended a 13-year title drought.

East Zone’s first innings total of 708 proved unassailable, with South Zone bowled out for 336 in reply, a deficit of 372 runs.

Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shikhar Mohan and Kumar Kushagra all contributed fifties or centuries to East Zone’s mammoth first-innings score.

The final, played at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium from September 6 to 10, ended without an outright result, with the trophy decided on first-innings lead.

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.

South Zone were bowled out for 336 in reply to East Zone’s first innings, leaving them 372 runs behind and facing an uphill task for the remainder of the match.

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.

Ishan Kishan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0