East Zone Dominates Duleep Trophy as Kishan and Mohan Shine
East Zone spent Day 4 of the Duleep Trophy not so much playing a contest as completing a coronation. By stumps, their lead stood at a mountainous 584. The trophy, barring a miracle of the sort this competition has never seen, is already wearing their colours.
At the heart of it again stood Ishan Kishan. The captain finished the day with a match tally of 350 runs, but for once, the script denied him the flourish. Chasing a second hundred of the game, he fell 20 short. Earlier, Tilak Varma had suffered an even crueller twist, dismissed for 99 in the morning after carrying South Zone’s resistance almost single-handedly.
Tilak’s lone stand and a cruel finish
South Zone began the fourth morning with little more than pride to defend and a fresh ball roaring towards them. Tilak, unbeaten overnight with a half-century, chose defiance. First over of the day, new ball in hand for Mohammed Shami, and Tilak cracked two boundaries to set the tone. No nerves, no caution. Just clean, commanding strokes.
At the other end, CV Milind joined in. He unfurled a crisp cover drive off Mukesh Kumar to get moving, and for a brief spell, South Zone looked liberated. The brand new cherry flew to the fence, Milind in particular timing everything sweetly. The stand added 94 for the last four wickets and, for the first time in the innings, East Zone’s bowlers had to think.
Spin broke the mood. With the seamers leaking boundaries, East Zone turned to their slower men from both ends, tightened the screws, and the pressure finally told. Milind fell, and with that wicket, the door swung open.
The chaos that followed summed up South Zone’s match. Tripurana Vijay was run out, sacrificed in a muddled attempt by Tilak to keep the strike. Then came the moment that changed the tone of the morning. Tilak, still short of three figures, took a single off only the second ball of an over. The move exposed Mohammad Siraj to Mukesh Kumar, who needed no second invitation and trapped him leg-before.
Tilak, so assured until then, met his own heartbreak in the very next over. One mistimed shot, one simple return catch, and he was gone for 99. No celebration, no raised bat. Just a walk back, one run short of a richly deserved century and South Zone still miles behind.
The first-innings deficit settled at 372. Any debate about a follow-on ended quickly. East Zone, so far ahead on the scoreboard and in control of the tempo, chose to bat again.
Early jolts, then Kishan and Mohan shut the door
The decision pleased the small crowd that had turned up, many of them keen to see Vaibhav Sooryavanshi go again after his earlier exploits. Their wait lasted all of five overs.
South Zone hit back with a burst that briefly flickered with possibility. Siraj, relentless as ever, found the edge of Abhimanyu Easwaran, the catch safely pouched at first slip. Tripurana Vijay then adjusted smartly when he saw Sooryavanshi charge down the pitch, dragging his length back to have the opener stumped for just 8. Two wickets gone, and a few fans decided they had seen enough, drifting away just as the game moved into its next phase.
There was no real jeopardy for East Zone, not with a lead already towering, but the wobble demanded calm hands. Kishan and Shikhar Mohan supplied exactly that. They began by shutting out risk, playing late, playing straight, and letting the shine fade from the ball. Once the immediate danger passed, they started to stretch the field.
When the lead crossed 400, the tone shifted. Kishan stepped out and launched Vijay for six, a statement stroke that echoed across the sparse stands. Mohan followed with a straight boundary off Shreyas Gopal, the pair now batting with the freedom that comes when the match has effectively been put away.
After Tea, Kishan simply took over the evening. Fifty came up, and he did not pause to admire it. In Vijay’s next over, he went 4, 6, 6, 4 – a brutal sequence that underlined the gulf between the sides. Every swing carried intent, every connection reminded South Zone how far behind they had fallen. Another hundred looked inevitable.
This time, though, the bowlers fought back. Gopal and MD Nidheesh tightened their lines, dried up the scoring, and forced Kishan into a mistake. Eager to break free after a few quiet overs, he miscued a big shot and departed, again short of three figures. No century, but by then he had already dragged the lead beyond 500 and, with it, the trophy almost beyond doubt.
Mohan’s departure followed soon after, trapped lbw by Shaikh Rasheed. Sudip Gharami did not last either, run out early in his stay as South Zone refused to let the day drift entirely.
East Zone look ahead with one hand on the trophy
Any thoughts of a late collapse vanished as Kumar Kushagra and Md Kounain Quraishi settled in. They played with a clarity that matched the state of the game: no rush, no frills, just solid batting. The pair stitched together a half-century stand, batting out the remaining overs and stretching the lead into the realms of the absurd.
By the close, the scoreboard told a story that barely needed words. East Zone on top, South Zone spent, and a Duleep Trophy final that looks all but decided. One day remains, but the real question now is not whether East Zone will win – it’s how emphatically they choose to finish the job.
