Duleep Trophy: East Won The Trophy But Could Have Won The Final Too
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2026-09-11 06:32:15
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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East Zone's Duleep Trophy triumph was built on a performance of extraordinary authority, and at its heart was Ishan Kishan's magnificent 270. The East Zone captain produced the defining innings of the final against South Zone in Chennai, batting for 334 balls and hitting 30 fours and seven sixes. He fell only three runs short of his first-class best of 273, but personal records were almost incidental to an innings that transformed the complexion of the match. Kishan's double century gave East Zone the platform to post a mammoth 708, putting South Zone under pressure before they had even begun their reply.
Kishan's innings was supported by an impressive collective batting effort. Kumar Kushagra made a century, while Shikhar Mohan and Abhimanyu Easwaran also made substantial contributions. The lower order ensured that South Zone's bowlers were forced to remain on the field for an exhausting period. By the time East Zone were dismissed for 708, they had not merely scored heavily; they had created the kind of advantage that allows a team to dictate the terms of a final.
South Zone's response was never likely to be easy, but there was credit in their resistance. Tilak Varma led from the front with 99, while Devdutt Padikkal made 62. Their efforts prevented an even more damaging collapse, but East Zone's bowlers eventually dismissed South Zone for 336. Mukesh Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Md Kounain Quraishi shared the wickets as East Zone secured a staggering 372-run first-innings lead.
At that point, the Duleep Trophy was effectively East Zone's. Under the rules governing the final, the first-innings lead would give them the title if the match ended in a draw. More importantly, they had demonstrated superiority in both departments. Their batsmen had produced 708 and their bowlers had dismissed South Zone for less than half that total. The question was no longer whether East Zone could win the championship, but whether they could turn their overwhelming advantage into an outright victory.
This is where the one significant tactical criticism of Kishan's captaincy arises. East Zone chose not to enforce the follow-on and instead returned to bat. The decision was entirely understandable from the perspective of protecting the trophy. There was no need to take unnecessary risks when the first-innings lead had already provided a safety net, and batting again allowed East Zone to make the possibility of a South Zone recovery even more remote.
But if the objective was to win the final rather than merely secure the championship, the decision was harder to justify. East Zone had already taken ten wickets and had a 372-run lead. By enforcing the follow-on, they could have sent South Zone straight back to the crease while their bowlers were still in a position to attack. If South Zone collapsed again, East Zone would win the final outright. If they survived, the match could still end in a draw, in which case East Zone would retain the trophy because of the first-innings lead.
Instead, East Zone spent valuable time batting again. Kishan scored another 80, Quraishi produced an unbeaten 116 and Anukul Roy made 64 before East declared at 388 for seven, stretching their overall lead to 760. It was another impressive batting performance, but every additional session at the crease was time that could not be spent trying to take the ten wickets required for an outright victory.
There is therefore a legitimate distinction between East Zone's decision being safe and it being optimal. They had created an extraordinary position through Kishan's 270, Kushagra's century, the 708 total and disciplined bowling that produced a 372-run lead. That position gave Kishan the rare luxury of being able to attack without putting the championship itself at serious risk. Had South Zone survived the follow-on, the trophy would still have gone to East Zone. Had they collapsed, East Zone would have had the satisfaction of winning the final outright.
Kishan ultimately chose certainty over ambition, and nobody can fault him for ensuring that East Zone ended their 13-year wait for the Duleep Trophy. His 270 will rightly be remembered as the performance that made the triumph possible. Yet it is also fair to wonder whether, after producing such a commanding first innings, East Zone should have trusted their bowlers to finish the job. They won the championship comfortably. Given the position Kishan and his teammates had created, they might have won the final as emphatically as well.
