East Zone end 13-year wait to clinch Duleep Trophy

East Zone ended a 13-year wait for the Duleep Trophy on Thursday, defeating South Zone on the basis of a first-innings lead at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The victory secured East Zone their third Duleep Trophy title, with their previous triumph coming in the 2012-13 season.

Resuming their second innings on the final day, East Zone declared at 388/7 after 99.2 overs, with Md Kounain Quraishi unbeaten on a maiden first-class century, 116 off 190 balls. Anukul Roy also contributed a patient 64. As soon as the declaration was made, the Ishan Kishan-led side began celebrating their title triumph.

East Zone had taken a commanding grip on the contest after piling up 708 in their first innings, led by a monumental 270 from captain Kishan and a century from Kumar Kushagra, who scored 101. Kishan added 80 in the second innings to finish with a match aggregate of 350 runs.

Jharkhand's emerging talents were instrumental in East Zone's success. Alongside Kushagra, Shikhar Mohan made an impressive 85 on his Duleep Trophy debut, building on the promising form he showed during the previous domestic season. Together with Kishan, the Jharkhand trio played a key role in keeping East Zone in control throughout the final.

Earlier in the day, Quraishi and Roy extended their seventh-wicket partnership to 150, taking East Zone beyond the 700-run mark in the match. Quraishi reached his century in the 96th over while at the other end, Roy scored his half-century a little while earlier in the 89th over.

Quraishi was still unbeaten when he chipped Milind safely towards mid-on off the second ball of the 100th over. Kishan then signalled the declaration from the pavilion, prompting the umpires to remove the bails and officially confirm East Zone as Duleep Trophy champions.