Ishan Kishan has been on a rollercoaster ride over the last few years. From being part of all three formats in 2023, he hit rock bottom by early 2024 when he was dropped from the BCCI central contract list, partly for his refusal to turn up for the Ranji Trophy.

Since then, the Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batter has been making amends, putting in the hard yards in domestic cricket to forge his way back into India’s T20 and ODI squads. Now, the 28-year-old is showing that he is ready to do the same in the longest format as well. He hammered 270 (334b, 30×4, 7×6) for East Zone against South Zone on day two of the Duleep Trophy final at the MAC Stadium here on Monday.

Resuming the day at 385 for four, East posted a gargantuan total of 708 with Kumar Kushagra (101, 132b, 8×4, 5×6) completing his century. Kishan and Kushagra added 230 for the fifth wicket, pummeling a hapless South attack into submission.

Kishan set the tone with a brace of boundaries off Mohammed Siraj and M.D. Nidheesh. Kushagra soon joined in the act, lofting C.V. Milind and driving Nidheesh down the ground. He raced through his 90s by taking on Shreyas Gopal and brought up his hundred.

South’s only hope to stage a comeback was with the second new ball, but Siraj was off-colour yet again, bowling just three overs.

Post lunch, Kishan tore into Shreyas, smashing the leggie for three boundaries in an over. What stood out during the southpaw’s knock was how he shunned risks even when using the feet, often drilling it past the bowler along the ground. He raised his second First Class double century with a searing cover drive off Devdutt Padikkal.

After the milestone, Kishan switched to T20 mode and unleashed a barrage of sixes, lofting spinners Shreyas and T. Vijay over the ropes with disdain. He needed just 30 more deliveries to raise his bat again — for a 250 — despite battling cramps. Barring a miracle over the last three days, Kishan might have ensured East has one hand on the Duleep Trophy.

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 c Smaran b Vijay 270, Kumar Kushagra c Milind b Vijay 101, Anukul Roy lbw b Rasheed 45, Md. Kounain Quraishi c Siraj b Shreyas 40, Mohammed Shami b Shreyas 28, Abhijit Sarkar (not out) 0, Mukesh Kumar c & b Vijay 0; Extras (b-8, lb-2, nb-6, w-1): 17; Total (in 163 overs): 708.

Fall of wickets: 1-100, 2-133, 3-147, 4-241, 5-471, 6-626, 7-680, 8-698, 9-708.

South Zone bowling: Siraj 25-3-140-0, Nidheesh 15-2-58-0, Vijay 42-4-180-4, Milind 21-2-88-2, Shreyas 42-7-165-2, Rasheed 13-0-46-1, Padikkal 4-0-18-0, Bhui 1-0-3-0.

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.

Abhimanyu Easwaran gets run out in the Duleep Trophy final between South Zone and East Zone.
| Photo Credit:
R. RAGU

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.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
| Photo Credit:
R. RAGU

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.

Shikhar Mohan.
| Photo Credit:
R. RAGU

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.

Skipper Kumar Kushagra brought up his century (103) as Jharkhand posted 283 against Hyderabad on day two of the second-round match in the All India Buchi Babu invitational cricket tournament at the Guru Nanak college ground in Chennai on Saturday (August 23, 2025).

In response, Hyderabad reached 223 for four, courtesy of opener P. Nitish Reddy’s breezy 106. Nitish and left-hander Rahul Radesh (61 batting) added 124 runs for the second-wicket partnership.

Left-hander Soham Patwardhan, too, struck a ton to help Madhya Pradesh to 230 for nine versus Punjab at the MRF-Pachaiyappa’s ground.

A 158-run second-wicket stand between Qamran Iqbal (81) and Musaif Aijaz (80) helped Jammu & Kashmir secure a 104-run first-innings lead over Baroda at the TI-Murugappa ground.

For Baroda, left-arm spinner Aryan Chavda starred with five for 94.

The scores (round two, day two): Group-A: At Gojan-B: TNCA President’s XI 384/9 vs Maharashtra 105/2 in 24 overs (Prithvi Shaw 47 batting).

At SSN: Himachal Pradesh 144 vs Chhattisgarh; Play washed out.

Group-B: At TI-Murugappa: Baroda 176 & 4 for no loss in 1 over vs J&K 280 in 87.4 overs (Qamran Iqbal 81, Musaif Aijaz 80, Abid Mushtaq 49, Aryan Chavda 5/94).

At SRMC, turf: Odisha 222 vs Railways 138/6 in 48 overs.

Group-C: At Gojan-A: TNCA XI 414/8 vs Haryana; Play washed out.

At IITM-Chemplast: Mumbai 266 in 88 overs (Suved Parkar 47, Himanshu Singh 59, Ishan Porel 4/37) vs Bengal 57/1 in 20 overs.

Group-D: At MRF-Pachaiyappa’s: Madhya Pradesh 230/9 in 90 overs (Rudransh Singh 63, Soham Patwardhan 108) vs Punjab 137/2 in 33 overs (Harnoor Singh Pannu 45).

At Guru Nanak: Jharkhand 283 89.3 overs (Kumar Kushagra 103, Tanay Thyagarajan 4/75, Rohith Rayudu 4/69) vs Hyderabad 223/4 in 53 overs (P. Nitish Reddy 106, Rahul Radesh 61 batting).