Chennai: Skipper Ishan Kishan smashed a monumental 270 while Kumar Kushagra hit a fine century to put East Zone in complete command of the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone by posting a colossal 708 at the end of the second innings of the match, played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Monday.
Kishan’s 334-ball knock, laced with 30 fours and seven sixes, registered the eighth-highest individual score in a Duleep Trophy match. Kushagra, on the other hand, hit 101 off 132 balls, studded with eight fours and five sixes, ensuring that a total in excess of 700 was registered at Chepauk for only the third time in first-class cricket history before East Zone were finally bowled out by stumps.
Resuming from their overnight score of 385/4, East Zone continued to pile on the runs right from the outset. Desperately seeking wickets, South Zone took the new ball after delaying it for just one over, but neither Mohammad Siraj nor MD Nidheesh could find an early breakthrough.
Kishan got going immediately, collecting successive boundaries off Siraj before giving the same treatment to Nidheesh. Kushagra soon joined the party from the other end as, on either side of the drinks break, South Zone introduced spinners Tripurana Vijay and Shreyas Gopal into the attack, but it didn’t change the trajectory of East Zone’s innings.
Kushagra moved into the nineties with a couple of boundaries off Gopal before eventually bringing up his sixth first-class century. South Zone finally got the much-needed breakthrough closer to the lunch break when Kushagra found the fielder at fine leg off Vijay.
For Kishan, however, it remained business as usual as he continued to manipulate the field with ease. Taking full toll of a tiring opposition, the aggressive left-hander slammed three boundaries in a single over from Gopal. South Zone attempted to break his momentum by deploying part-timers Devdutt Padikkal and Shaikh Rasheed, but to no avail as Kishan reached his double century off 270 balls.
After crossing the milestone, Kishan accelerated rapidly and hit boundaries with immaculate ease to move past 250, with South Zone eagerly anticipating a declaration. Even after guiding his side past the 600-run mark, the captain showed no intention of declaring.
Although fatigue briefly caught up with Kishan and forced him to retire temporarily, the runs kept flowing for East Zone. With the total edging closer to 700, Mohammed Shami departed for a quickfire 28, which brought Kishan back to the crease in pursuit of a rare triple century.
However, wickets falling at the other end forced his hand, and he was eventually caught near the long-on boundary, falling just 30 runs short of the 300-mark. By the time the East Zone innings ended at 708, they had firmly taken charge of winning the summit clash against a tiring South Zone.
Brief scores:
East Zone 708 in 163 overs (Ishan Kishan 270, Kumar Kushagra 101; Tripurana Vijay 4-180, Chama Milind 2-88) against South Zone
(IANS)
