East Zone win the Duleep Trophy for the first time since 2012-13 as final ends drawn

Ishan Kishan's 270 and a first-innings lead of 372 settled a final that ran out of time at Chepauk

East Zone are Duleep Trophy champions. The final against South Zone at the MA Chidambaram Stadium ended in a draw on the fifth day, and the trophy went to the side that had led on first innings.

That was never in doubt once East Zone, who chose to bat after winning the toss, had made 708 in 163 overs and bowled South Zone out for 336 in 107.3. The margin was 372 runs, and South Zone were left needing an outright win they never came close to.

It is East Zone's first Duleep Trophy since 2012-13, and it was won at the same ground where they last lifted it.

A first innings that put the final out of reach

Kishan, captaining the side, made 270 in an innings that shaped everything that followed. It was the single biggest contribution to a total that South Zone's attack could not contain across 163 overs.

Kumar Kushagra supported him with 101, Shikhar Mohan made 85 and Abhimanyu Easwaran 72, four scores that turned a good position into an unanswerable one.

Tripurana Vijay was South Zone's most successful bowler with 4-180, figures that say as much about the length of the innings as about the bowling, and no South Zone bowler found a way to break the innings open once Kishan was set.

South Zone fall 372 short

South Zone's reply lasted 107.3 overs and never threatened to close the gap. Tilak Varma, their captain, was the one batter to look settled and fell one short of a hundred on 99, caught and bowled by the off-spinner Md Kounain Quraishi.

Devdutt Padikkal made 62, and a seventh-wicket stand of 78 between Tilak and C.V. Milind was the only partnership of substance. Milind was caught at short leg off Shikhar Mohan, and the innings folded soon afterwards. Mukesh Kumar led East Zone's bowling with 3-62.

At 336 all out, South Zone were 372 behind with two days of the final still to play, and from that point the result depended only on whether they could bowl East Zone out twice.

No follow-on, and no way back

Kishan did not enforce the follow-on. East Zone batted again and occupied the crease for a further 99.2 overs, reaching 388 for 7 and extending their overall lead past 750 before the match was drawn.

Md Kounain Quraishi made an unbeaten 116, his maiden first-class century, and Kishan added 80 to the 270 he had already made.

With a drawn final decided on the first-innings lead, batting on rather than setting a target removed South Zone's last theoretical route to the title.

Kishan's tournament

Kishan finished the final with 350 runs across the two innings and was named player of the match.

He was also the tournament's leading run-scorer with 409 runs at an average of 102.25, a return that carried East Zone through the knockout rounds and into the final.

Suryavanshi and the supporting cast

Vaibhav Suryavanshi, the 15-year-old opener, made 44 in East Zone's first innings and ends the competition with a winner's medal.

Mukesh Kumar finished as the tournament's joint-leading wicket-taker with 12 wickets, level with North Zone's Abid Mushtaq, having taken the three that broke South Zone's first innings in the final.

Quraishi's contribution was the more unusual one, a maiden first-class hundred in a final and the wicket of the opposition captain in the same match.

Scorecard: East Zone 708 (163 overs) and 388 for 7 (99.2 overs) drew with South Zone 336 (107.3 overs); East Zone won the Duleep Trophy on the first-innings lead.

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