Tilak says his biggest goal is to play Test cricket.
| Photo Credit: R. RAGU

A five-day First Class match in India — usually reserved for knockout fixtures — is designed to give teams a chance to push for an outright result. 

At the same time, it tends to produce oddities because the focus is on securing the first-innings lead, which is enough to claim victory. Once that is achieved, the contest often fizzles out. Yet the teams still have to go through the motions until at least Tea on the final day, even if the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

The 2026 Duleep Trophy final between South Zone and East Zone in all likelihood will go down in history as one such game after the latter secured the crucial first-innings lead on the fourth day at the MAC Stadium here.

South, resuming at 242 for six in pursuit of East’s massive 708, was bundled out for 336 at lunch on Wednesday.

Realistically, South’s best hope was to delay the inevitable, and that relied on Tilak Varma getting a big one. For the first two hours of the penultimate day, the left-hander did just that, positively countering Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar’s burst with the second new ball.

C.V. Milind supported his captain, with the duo adding 78 for the seventh wicket. But once Shikhar Mohan had Milind caught at short-leg, the end was near.

Tilak, in a rush to get to his landmark, fell agonisingly short by one run while trying to push for a single, only to give a simple return catch to off-spinner Kounain Quraishi.

Despite a 372-run lead, Ishan Kishan opted to bat the opposition out of the game and, at stumps, East was 212 for five in its second innings, ahead by 584 runs.

Though the contest was virtually sealed, a healthy crowd had gathered in the hope of seeing Vaibhav Sooryavanshi put on a show. The southpaw, though, perished early, stumped while attempting to charge down off-spinner T. Vijay.

Sooryavanshi gets stumped by Jagadeesan off Vijay’s bowling.
| Photo Credit:
R. RAGU

Kishan — who smashed 270 in the first essay — continued from where he left off, stroking his way to a flamboyant 80 (98b, 9×4, 3×6). He was severe on spinners Vijay and Shreyas Gopal, repeatedly stepping down at every opportunity and carting them all over the park to entertain the fans.

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 c & b Quraishi 99, R. Smaran c Kushagra b Shami 23, Shreyas Gopal c & b Quraishi 26, C.V. Milind c Gharami b Shikhar 43, T. Vijay run out 1, Mohammed Siraj lbw b Mukesh 1, M.D. Nidheesh (not out) 0; Extras (b-10, lb-4, nb-4, w-3): 21; Total (in 107.3 overs): 336.

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-70, 3-126, 4-129, 5-174, 6-240, 7-318, 8-322, 9-336.

East Zone bowling: Shami 16-5-42-2, Mukesh 19-1-62-3, Quraishi 39.3-8-99-2, Abhijit 8-0-34-0, Shikhar 20-0-67-2, Sooryavanshi 4-0-10-0, Kishan 1-0-8-0.

Ishan Kishan and Shikhar Mohan of East Zone.
| Photo Credit:
R. RAGU

East Zone — 2nd innings: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi st. Jagadeesan b Vijay 8, Abhimanyu Easwaran c Padikkal b Siraj 3, Shikhar Mohan lbw b Rasheed 52, Ishan Kishan c Padikkal b Nidheesh 80, Kumar Kushagra (batting) 34, Sudip Kumar Gharami run out 2, Md Kounain Quraishi (batting) 26; Extras: (b-7): 7; Total (for five wkts. in 51 overs): 212.

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-13, 3-139, 4-154, 5-160.

South Zone bowling: Siraj 7-2-17-1, Vijay 17-1-84-1, Shreyas 12-1-57-0, Nidheesh 5-1-14-1, Rasheed 7-1-20-1, Bhui 3-0-13-0.

Published – September 09, 2026 06:32 pm IST

Control: Mukesh refrained from going too full and wide.
| Photo Credit: R. RAGU

Master bowler: Shami showed that he can still make the ball talk through both conventional and reverse swing.
| Photo Credit: R. RAGU

Out of national reckoning for more than two years, Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s experience was in demand among the IPL franchises with Royal Challengers Bengaluru buying him for Rs 10.75 crore as lesser-fancied Indian fast bowlers hit pay dirt on the second day of the mega auction on Monday. The Mumbai troika of Shardul Thakur, Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane along with New Zealand stars Kane Williamson and Glenn Phillips were among the unsold players. Bhuvneshwar, who will be 35 before the start of next IPL, has 300 wickets from 287 career T20 games and an economy rate of less than eight. But he last played for India during a tour of New Zealand in November 2022 and is considered well past his prime at the international level.

However, with at least three Indian pacers needed per team, the pool is not large enough to ensure equal distribution among the 10 teams.

Therefore, an out-of-favour Bhuvneshwar, an injury-prone Deepak Chahar (Rs 9.25 crore for Mumbai Indians) and a Test reserve Mukesh Kumar (Rs eight crore RTM by Delhi Capitals) got good deals on the second day when franchises came with leaner purse after splurging away on Sunday.

Akash Deep, the Test pacer, got a Rs eight crore deal from Lucknow Super Giants.

What works for Chahar and Bhuvneshwar is their ability to swing the white ball in Powerplays. Mukesh has takers for his wide yorkers at the death.

Even a Tushar Deshpande, who has an economy rate of close to 10 runs per over, was snapped by Rajasthan Royals at Rs 6.50 crore. He is currently recuperating from an ankle operation.

Former RCB skipper Faf du Plessis became the biggest bargain buy for Delhi Capitals at a base price of Rs two crore while Gujarat Titans were smart to lap up India all-rounder Washington Sundar for Rs 3.20 crore.

The paucity of good seam bowling Indian all-rounders in the auction list allowed South African Marco Jansen to laugh his way to the bank with a Rs seven crore deal from Punjab Kings.

Englishman Sam Curran, who had once attracted a Rs 18 crore bid, only had a couple of takers with CSK bringing him back home at Rs 2.40 crore.

Shardul, Shaw and Rahane can come back for the accelerated auction if the franchises pick them for it.

For Rahane, it wasn’t surprising as his form dipped alarmingly during his second season with CSK and during the ongoing domestic season, he has managed to hold his Mumbai spot due to his role of skipper.

In case of Shardul, it is the ‘Impact Player’ rule that became his undoing as neither his batting has the requisite firepower for T20 cricket nor does his seam bowling, with a T20I economy rate of 9.15, inspires confidence.

For Shaw, massive weight gain and fitness issues along with off-the-field drama has not exactly enhanced his reputation.

Among the three, only Shaw still has a chance to find some takers at the end because of his explosive Powerplay game. But his struggle against quality pace is well-documented.

Hardik Pandya’s brother Krunal Pandya got a Rs 5.75 crore deal from RCB who needed an experienced spin bowling all-rounder.

Nitish Rana, who had once breached the million dollar mark as an uncapped player, got a Rs 4.20 crore winning bid from Rajasthan Royals.

Rising youngsters Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal struck fighting fifties after Mukesh Kumar’s searing six-wicket haul to put India A in command with a 120-run lead against Australia A on day two of their first ‘Unofficial Test’ in Mackay on Friday. Mukesh stole the show, claiming 6/46 to help India A restrict Australia A to 195 in their first innings but despite the Bengal seamer’s heroic efforts, the hosts secured a crucial 88-run lead. The visitors had scored 107 in their first essay.

India A once again suffered a jittery start in their second innings with skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (5) and fellow opener Abhimanyu Easwaran (12) getting out cheaply to have India down to 30/2 in 8.5 overs.

Gaikwad, who fell for a golden duck in the first innings, this time nicked Fergus O’Neill to second slip where Cameron Bancroft took a low catch.

While Easwaran, who had notched up four consecutive first-class centuries to earn a spot in the senior team as cover for skipper Rohit Sharma for the upcoming Test series against Australia, once again recorded a single-digit score, this time getting run out while backing up for Sai Sudharsan.

But thereafter Sudharsan and Padikkal showed fine temperament and soaked the pressure on the bouncy pitch to produce an unbroken 178-run stand for the third wicket to help India seize control.

Sudharsan hit nine boundaries in his 185-ball 96, while Padikkal was unbeaten on 80 from 167 balls, scoring five fours.

Padikkal played a patient yet composed knock, working the ball around for quick singles and capitalising on loose deliveries to reach his fifty.

At the other end, Sudharsan exhibited his range of shots, particularly adept at dispatching anything short, cutting and pulling with precision.

His well-timed boundaries, including a powerful pull past square leg and a fluent cover drive, allowed him to reach his own half-century as they took the team past 200.

India A now have an overall lead of 120 runs with two more days left in the four-day fixture.

The second and final unofficial Test is scheduled in Melbourne from November 7.

Earlier resuming at 99/4 on Day 2, overnight batters Nathan McSweeney (39) and Cooper Connolly (37) added 51 runs for the fifth wicket, the match’s first fifty-run stand.

However, Mukesh who bagged two wickets on the opening day, once again broke the partnership by dismissing Connolly.

Josh Philippe became Mukesh’s fourth victim, while Nitish Kumar Reddy dismissed captain McSweeney, leaving Australia A reeling at 136/7 in 47.4 overs.

A frustrating 41-run stand for the eighth wicket between Todd Murphy (33) and O’Neill (13) was finally broken when Prasidh Krishna claimed the latter en route to his third scalp.

Mukesh rounded off his superb performance by completing his five-wicket haul with Brendan Doggett’s wicket and then adding Todd Murphy as his sixth, wrapping up Australia A’s innings.

File photo of Mukesh Kumar© X (Twitter)

File photo of Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar

Skipper Ajinkya Rahane concentrated hard as his unbeaten 86 off 197 balls took Mumbai to 237 for four against Rest of India on a weather-curtailed opening day of the Irani Cup. The veteran of 5000 plus runs in 85 Tests, who is not on national selectors’ radar, dug deep into his reservoirs of concentration to keep Mumbai on even keel against an impressive duo of Mukesh Kumar (3/60 in 14 overs) and Yash Dayal (1/46 in 15 overs). Shreyas Iyer (57 off 84 balls) and Sarfaraz Khan (54 batting, 88 balls) were tad a more adventurous in trying to get a move on in the 68 overs of play possible on Tuesday.

In fact, Rahane played the second fiddle during his 102-run fourth wicket stand with Iyer after Mukesh had reduced them to 37 for three in his first spell.

At stumps, Rahane had the company of Sarfaraz and the duo had 98 runs for the fifth wicket and would like to consolidate on the second day.

For someone, who has 12 Test hundreds in his 40 first-class tons, Rahane wasn’t exactly very assertive during his stay at the wicket. He has so far hit six fours and a six over long-off off left-arm spinner Manav Suthar’s bowling.

He did hit a few crisp boundaries through off-side but overall never looked like on top of the ROI bowling.

In fact apart from that six and a boundary, Suthar kept him quiet with only 22 runs taken off 58 balls bowled by the Rajasthan spinner.

Against Prasidh Krishna, he faced 38 balls but managed to score only seven runs.

While a century would do no harm to his reputation but Rahane, whose brilliant leadership during the historic 2021 series win in Australia is a part of Indian cricketing folklore, would need to dominate domestic attacks if he remotely harbours any hope of getting a national recall.

In fact, Iyer was more attacking against the lanky Karnataka speedster hitting him for five out of his half a dozen boundaries.

The two sixes — one each off pacer Mukesh and off-break bowler Saransh Jain — were treat to watch before Dayal prised him out.

Sarfaraz took on Suthar and got three boundaries off the left-arm spinner.

KL Rahul’s gumption, which helped him pile a patient fifty, found no resonance among his colleagues as India B pacers led by Yash Dayal pushed India A to a 76-run defeat on the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match on Sunday. Chasing 275, India A were bundled out for 198 in their second innings as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50), with able support from his colleagues Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41), led the India B attack. Rahul top-scored for ‘A’ with a 51.

In the first session of the day, India B made 184 all out in their second essay to muster a handy overall lead of 274.

The India A chase began on a shaky note as Mayank Agarwal departed in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made a wonderful diving catch at second slip.

That brought Riyan Parag to the middle and the right-hander followed the path set on Saturday by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan.

Parag took on the bowlers and pacer Mukesh bore the brunt of his aggression, getting smoked for two sixes and the second maximum touched the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket region.

Parag added 48 runs for the second with a rather subdued Shubman Gill, who was dropped by Nitish Reddy at slips off Mukesh on 16, and 31 came off the former’s bat in just 18 balls.

But the approach was tough to sustain considering the kind of assistance the bowlers were getting here, and soon his massive hoick off Dayal took an edge off Parag’s bat en route to stumper Rishabh Pant.

Gill (21) departed soon, falling to Saini for the second time in the match and on this occasion, he edged the pacer to Pant.

Dhruv Jurel poked Dayal well outside off-stump to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, as India batters perished to a combination of bowlers’ persistence on that channel and their own carelessness.

They took the lunch at a queasy 76 for four that soon transpired into 99 for six after the dismissal of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian, an hour into the lunch.

However, Rahul batted out 180 minutes 121 balls and milked 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav to delay the inevitable.

The standout shot in an otherwise dour innings was a whistling on drive off Mukesh that fetched him a boundary.

But Mukesh had his revenge soon when Rahul feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches in this innings, soon after reaching his fifty with a single off Saini.

It effectively signalled the end of the road of for India A, though Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3×4, 4×6) gave a few moments of fun with a cavalier innings.

But beyond the entertainment value, it always was a case of when more than if.

Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 150 for six India B could only 34 runs more to the total before getting bundled out.

Pacer Akash, whom Sarfaraz Khan carted around for five fours in a row the previous day, found his mojo to add the scalps of Washington Sundar and Saini to complete a five-wicket haul (5/56).

The spell will keep his name floating among the contenders when the selectors sit together soon to pick up squad for two-match Test series against Bangladesh.