Skipper Tilak Varma has been the standout player for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy this year.

The Hyderabad batter was instrumental in taking the team to the final, leading from the front with unbeaten knocks of 116 and 51 in the semifinal against North.

In the summit clash, Tilak yet again stood tall, scoring a valiant 99 against East Zone, even if he couldn’t help his team avoid conceding a huge lead.

“It’s an important knock, but at the same time I was only focused on what the team needed. I could have taken more chances before, but the plan was simply to take it session by session,” said Tilak. 

“If some other batter stayed with me, I was confident we [could] have batted through to the end of the day, [and] take it session-by-session till tomorrow and push for a draw. Unfortunately, we lost wickets, and the result went in their favour,” he added.

“A hundred would have been a nice reward for the hard yards I put in the heat, but individual milestones don’t matter as much as the result.”

Though the 23-year-old has quickly been elevated as vice-captain of the T20I side, he reiterated that Test cricket is his ultimate goal.

“I always say to everyone that I want to play red-ball cricket for India. That’s my biggest goal because I really love playing red-ball cricket. As a kid, I thought I’d play Test cricket first and then only white-ball cricket. I’m really keen to play red-ball cricket, and let’s see how it goes,” said Tilak.

East Zone pacer Mukesh Kumar felt that there was enough on the surface for the quicks to keep the batters honest, provided they had the right tactics.

Despite bowling on a fresh MAC Stadium pitch on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy final, the South Zone fast bowlers were inconsistent and resorted to short-pitched stuff without much success.

In contrast, Mukesh and Mohammed Shami attacked the stumps and scalped four of the six wickets to fall on day three.

“I didn’t pitch it too full here. If I had bowled full, it would have invited cover drives and similar shots. So, pulling the length back slightly to back-of-a-length on this red soil [was important]. If you hit the deck hard and put effort into it, the ball kicks. We worked on that,” said Mukesh.

The Bengal speedster also stressed the need to maintain the ball, especially on red-soil pitches where it could get scuffed easily.

“Speaking for myself, the harder I pound the deck and hit the seam, the more the ball will kick, regardless of the wicket. The other part is working on the ball — applying sweat repeatedly, polishing it, and preparing it for reverse swing. We worked on that, and it gave us movement,” he added.

On his plans for Devdutt Padikkal, Mukesh explained: “It was to bowl stump-to-stump because we knew he was coming after scoring two centuries in Sri Lanka. On wickets like this, if you offer width to batters, runs will leak. Our plan as fast bowlers was to stay as consistent as possible and bowl dot balls, letting them take the risks. They would try to force the pace and get out because they need to score runs.”

A disciplined bowling performance and the comfort of a huge first-innings total ensured East Zone tightened its stranglehold over South Zone on day three of the Duleep Trophy final at the MAC Stadium here.

Chasing 709, South needed more than a couple of batters to produce special knocks. Unfortunately, aside from Devdutt Padikkal (62, 104b, 4×4), none of the others showed much inclination to keep the contest alive.

In the final session, skipper Tilak Varma offered some resistance, remaining unbeaten on 56 (133b, 5×4), but it was akin to trying to keep a sinking boat afloat as his side finished on 242 for six, still 466 runs in arrears.

For East, Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar took two wickets each. The former showed that he can still make the ball talk through both conventional and reverse swing with short yet incisive spells.

After losing opener Ricky Bhui early — caught down the leg-side off Mukesh Kumar — N. Jagadeesan and Padikkal added 60 runs for the second wicket.

The TN ’keeper-batter, though, threw away his start, slicing an innocuous wide delivery from left-arm spinner Shikhar Mohan to backward point.

Padikkal, fresh from twin centuries in the recently concluded Test series in Sri Lanka, was at his fluent best, cruising to a half-century. The southpaw looked set for another big one, until he flicked a leg-side half-volley from Mukesh down the square-leg fielder’s throat, much to his disbelief.

Shami, in his second spell, attacked the stumps relentlessly and reaped the rewards through his trademark delivery that seamed off the pitch and trapped Shaik Rasheed plumb in front.

The 36-year-old then produced another peach from around the wicket that nipped away just enough to have R. Smaran caught behind, leaving South tottering at 174 for five.

Tilak and Shreyas Gopal then added 66 for the sixth wicket before the latter was dismissed in the final over of the day. With East skipper Ishan Kishan already hinting that his team was not inclined to enforce the follow-on, the next two days could well be about going through the formalities before the coronation.

The scores: East Zone — 1st innings: 708 in 163 overs.

South Zone — 1st innings: Ricky Bhui c Kushagra b Mukesh 1, N. Jagadeesan c Abhimanyu b Shikhar 32, Devdutt Padikkal c sub (Denish) b Mukesh 62, Shaik Rasheed lbw b Shami 27, Tilak Varma (batting) 56, R. Smaran c Kushagra b Shami 23, Shreyas Gopal c & b Quraishi 26, C.V. Milind (batting) 2; Extras (b-8, nb-3, w-2): 13; Total (for six wkts. in 80 overs): 242.

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-70, 3-126, 4-129, 5-174, 6-240.

East Zone bowling: Shami 11-4-17-2, Mukesh 12-1-36-2, Quraishi 31-7-77-1, Abhijit 8-0-34-0, Shikhar 13-0-52-1, Sooryavanshi 4-0-10-0, Kishan 1-0-8-0.

Ishan Kishan led from the front with a sprightly unbeaten 111 (135b, 14×4, 1×6) as East Zone amassed 385 for four against South Zone on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy final at the MAC Stadium here on Sunday.

The Jharkhand batter built on the efforts of opener Abhimanyu Easwaran (72, 86b, 10×4, 1×6) and No. 3 Shikhar Mohan (85, 120b, 9×4, 3×6) after opting to bat.

While Kishan headlined the day, it was Vaibhav Sooryavanshi who hogged the limelight.

It is not often that you see packed stands for a domestic game in India. Yet, even before the first ball was bowled, the C, D, and E stands at Chepauk were nearly full in anticipation of seeing the wunderkind. And in the first 90 minutes of the day, the youngster kept the fans on their feet through some elegant strokeplay.

The 15-year-old got on his toes nicely to counter the bounce from the red-soil pitch and punched South Zone pacers Mohammed Siraj and M.D. Nideesh to the off-side fence a few times.

And when Siraj went full, Sooryavanshi had no second thoughts about lofting down the ground for a six and a four. The southpaw eventually holed out on the leg-side trying to pull C.V. Milind for 44.

At the other end, Abhimanyu kept pace with the youngster and did not hold himself back, be it pulling Siraj effortlessly or giving the charge to the spinners.

Post lunch, Shikhar and Kishan combined forces, adding 94 for the fourth wicket, capitalising on a below-par effort from the South bowlers.

Shikhar was largely untroubled, confidently driving Siraj for back-to-back boundaries through the off-side before launching off-spinner T. Vijay for a six and two boundaries off consecutive deliveries.

Kishan kept busy without trying to be aggressive, bringing up his half-century off 71 deliveries. In the final session, he pressed on the accelerator and brought up his century in style, driving Shreyas Gopal down the ground majestically.

Alongside his Jharkhand teammate Kumar Kushagra (63 batting, 75b, 4×4, 5×6), the duo added an unbroken 144 runs for the fifth wicket as East established an early hold on the contest.

The scores: East Zone — 1st innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran run out 72, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi c sub (Tanay) b Milind 44, Shikhar Mohan b Milind 85, Sudip Kumar Gharami c Milind b Vijay 6, Ishan Kishan (batting) 111, Kumar Kushagra (batting) 63; Extras (nb-4): 4; Total (for four wkts. in 79 overs): 385.

Fall of wickets: 1-100, 2-133, 3-147, 4-241.

South Zone bowling: Siraj 14-1-96-0, Nidheesh 10-2-39-0, Vijay 22-3-114-1, Milind 13-1-56-2, Shreyas 19-3-77-0, Rasheed 1-0-3-0.

Toss: East.