On Sunday morning, R Sai Kishore scored thrice to help South Zone to their 14th Duleep Trophy victory. At Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the hosts defeated West Zone by a comfortable margin of 75 runs to claim the trophy. West Zone could only add 40 runs to their overnight total before being bowled out for 222 on the fifth day’s morning session. Notably, the Duleep Trophy 2023 was played entirely in Bengaluru and marked the start of the domestic season in India.
West Zone lost their captain, Priyank Panchal, early in the game. West Zone started the day with 182 for 5, needing 116 to win. The opener, who was unbeaten on 92 at the day’s end, only added three runs before being caught behind by Vidwath Kaverappa, who was ultimately named the match’s and the tournament’s Player of the Match after taking 8 for 104 in the summit clash and taking 15 wickets overall.
This is South Zone’s 14th Duleep Trophy title
On a slow-paced morning, Shams Mulani and Atit Sheth managed to hold off the South Zone bowlers for more than 30 minutes, but they could only add six runs for the seventh wicket before the former became V Koushik’s fourth victim of the day.
Before falling to Washington Sundar in the deep, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja made an effort to counterattack and even hit a few boundaries. Chintan Gaja, who attempted to slug Sai Kishore but was caught at mid-wicket for a duck, met a similar end. Sheth also fell victim while similarly attempting to challenge the left-arm spinner, the outcome of which was obvious. In order to end the pursuit, he too succumbed to Washington’s mystery spin on 9 in the deep.
Here are the scores in brief: South Zone 213 (Hanuma Vihari 63, Tilak Varma 40; Shams Mulani 3-39, Chintan Gaja 2-27) & 230 (Hanuma Vihari 42, Ricky Bhui 37, Washington Sundar 37; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 5-40, Atit Sheth 2-38) beat West Zone 146 (Prithvi Shaw 65, Harvik Desai 21; Vidwath Kaverappa 7/53, Vijaykumar Vyshak 2-33) & 222 (Priyank Panchal 95, Sarfaraz Khan 48; V Koushik 4-36, R Sai Kishore 4-57) by 75 runs.
Here’s how fans reacted:
That's why Dosa and IDLI SAMBHAR >>>>> VADAPAV and PAV BHAJI
More Healthy and Less Oily.
— KhabriBhai (@RealKhabriBhai) July 16, 2023
Good Captaincy by Washington ??
— Jeevan ? (@JeevanWAK) July 16, 2023
Even South Zone has a trophy but RCB??
— GOAT (@smudge_GOAT) July 16, 2023
Jersey looks so good.
— Dyno? (@insane_psych) July 16, 2023
Hyderabad goat showed levels to chumbai player's
— GOAT MAHI (@MSDADDICTED) July 16, 2023
West Zone couldn't win even with big names such as Prithvi shaw , surya , sarfaraz and pujara awesome performance by south zone
— Shubham rajput (@_shubh_says) July 16, 2023
Mayank Agarwal is the most underrated cricketer. The solace he brings to the pitch is equivalent to what Lara, Tendulkar & Ponting brought during their Era. A complete & mature cricket package… BCCI should give him more chance… Seriously one of the greats ever??
— Dhanik Makwana (@The__Nik) July 16, 2023
Remember the name vidvath Kaverappa
— vk fan (@viratkohli1817k) July 16, 2023
