For 14 years, the Duleep Trophy had stayed out of East Zone’s hands. On Thursday, that wait finally ended at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, and at the centre of the celebration was their captain, Ishan Kishan. East Zone defeated South Zone on the basis of a massive first-innings lead to win the Duleep Trophy for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
The innings that changed the final
The foundation for the title was laid in the first two days. After choosing to bat, East Zone piled up 708, their highest-ever total in the Duleep Trophy and the third-highest in a Duleep Trophy final. Kishan provided the innings that turned a strong position into complete dominance.
The left-hander scored a breathtaking 270 from 334 balls, spending more than eight hours at the crease. His innings contained 30 fours and seven sixes, combining the patience needed for red-ball cricket with the attacking game that has become his trademark. Kumar Kushagra’s 101 and Shikhar Mohan’s 85 added further weight to the total.
From 708 to a 372-run advantage
South Zone were never able to recover from the mountain Kishan and East Zone had created. Despite a determined 99 from Tilak Varma and 62 from Devdutt Padikkal, the South Zone were bowled out for 336.
That gave East Zone a first-innings lead of 372 runs. Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar and the rest of the attack ensured that the enormous total was converted into a position from which the final was almost impossible to lose.
Kishan wasn’t finished.
The 270 could easily have been the defining individual contribution of the final. Kishan made sure it wasn’t his only one.
With East Zone already comfortably ahead, the captain returned for the second innings and scored another 80 from 98 balls, hitting nine fours and three sixes. His partnership with Shikhar Mohan helped East Zone move further away from South Zone before Kishan was dismissed. Across the two innings, he finished with 350 runs, earning Player of the Match honours.
That second innings mattered because it captured the approach East Zone had taken throughout the final. They were not content with simply securing an advantage. They kept batting, kept scoring, and eventually declared at 388/7, stretching their overall lead to 760.
A captain at the centre of the celebration
When the final was over, Kishan and 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi were seen celebrating on the field with the stumps. For East Zone, it was the end of a 14-year wait. For Kishan, it was a final in which almost everything went right: a monumental first innings, another substantial score, and a trophy as captain.
The 270 may inevitably bring renewed attention to Kishan’s red-ball credentials and his future with India. But that is a conversation for later. In Chennai, the bigger story was simpler: Ishan Kishan didn’t just score 270 in a Duleep Trophy final. He helped East Zone finally win it.
