Stumps East Zone 708 and 212 for 5 (Kishan 80, Mohan 52, Kushagra 34*, Quraishi 26*, Nidheesh 1-14, Siraj 1-17) lead South Zone 336 (Tilak 99, Padikkal 62, Mukesh 3-62, Shami 2-42, Mohan 2-67, Quraishi 2-99) by 584 runs
East Zone have more than one hand on the 2026-27 Duleep Trophy with one full day still to be played, and that is likely to be a mere formality on a Chepauk surface that has done very little for the bowlers.
Having not asked South Zone to follow-on after taking a 372-run lead, East batted for two full sessions on the fourth day, with Ishan Kishan’s swashbuckling 80 – following the rampant 270 in the first innings – fuelling their innings. At stumps East were 212 for 5, their lead an insurmountable 584. It remains to be seen if there will be an overnight declaration, but the rules don’t necessarily incentivise teams to push for outright wins once a lead has been achieved.
There were some hints of a potential declaration when Kishan went hammer and tongs after bringing up a 66-ball half-century in the final session. He took apart offspinner T Vijay for 21 runs in an over upon getting to his landmark and repeatedly charged the pacers in an effort to hit them down the ground, and was out trying to do the same off MD Nidheesh.
After Kishan’s dismissal, Shikhar Mohan raised a second successive half-century before falling to Shaikh Rasheed’s part-time legspin when he was pinned lbw playing back to a full delivery. Then Sudip Gharami’s nightmarish game ended in a run out trying to pinch a non-existent second run; even a full-length dive couldn’t save him. First-innings centurion Kumar Kushagra and Md Kounain Quraishi batted out the last half-hour without a hassle with South relieved to walk off the field.
Abhimanyu Easwaran, unlucky to not get to a century in the first innings after a mix-up with Mohan, was the first to go when he nicked Mohammed Siraj to slip for 3. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who much of the crowd had stayed back to watch, fell soon after as he charged at Vijay, only to be deceived both in the air and off the pitch to be stumped.
Such moments of joy were few and far between for South, who only managed to add 74 to their overnight 262 for 6. The most anticipated landmark was Tilak Varma’s century, but on 99, he was beaten in flight to loop a return catch to Quraishi while trying to farm the strike with No. 11 Nidheesh for company.
It was the first time Tilak had been dismissed in the tournament, having made 116* and 51* in his two innings in the semi-final against North Zone. Having batted for 211 deliveries and batted a better part of a day, he spent the rest of the two sessions off the field, with Ricky Bhui standing in as captain.
If he batted sedately – at times not putting even the loose ones away – on Tuesday, Tilak was a lot more aggressive on the last day, the on-drive off Mohammed Shami off the second new ball laying down a marker. South made 49 runs in the first nine overs of the day with both Tilak and CV Milind looking to take the bowlers on, and looking comfortable in doing so. Tilak also ensured he was always outside the line of off stump while negotiating spin.
The first wicket fell when Milind was caught off the bat and pad for 43 in the 99th over off Mohan to end a 78-run stand. That was followed by a terrible mix-up that had Vijay run out. Tilak then retreated into a shell in trying to bat around the lower order, at one point going without a boundary for 63 deliveries before a gentle steer to third took him to 98.
He was on 99 when Siraj played around his front pad to a full Mukesh Kumar delivery to be trapped lbw. Nidheesh then batted out three deliveries to give Tilak a chance to bring up a century but Tilak spooned a return catch trying to take a single to long-off.
Rarely did the ball jump off the surface. But the ball to Tilak spun just a tad more than it did at other times, and that was enough to finish his vigil.
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