CHENNAI: Only time and two sessions of play stand between the Ishan Kishan-led East Zone and the Duleep Trophy. Having reduced South to 242/6 on Day three, Mohammed Shami and Co bundled out their opponents for 336, securing a mammoth 372-run lead. Tilak Varma's 99 was the only saving grace for South Zone on a day of hard toil here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
After securing the title-deciding first innings lead, East Zone went for the kill as they cruised to 212/5 in 51 overs with Ishan Kishan making 80 and Shikhar Mohan scoring 52.
On Wednesday morning, Tilak Varma waged a lone battle to delay the inevitable. Both Shami and Mukesh Kumar fired all cylinders at Tilak but he was not willing to give up and in a determined manner fought till the very end. He was in fact the last one to fall, giving a return catch to Md Kounain Quraishi.
Tilak opened his account on Wednesday with a flick off Shami to the square leg fence. And later executed two elegant cover drives off Shami to show his class and intention. Mukesh tested Tilak but he was unperturbed and CV Milind too lent solid support at the other end. The need of the hour was playing session by session without looking at the scoreboard and that's what Tilak and Milind did.
With Milind for company he frustrated the East attack with a stubborn 78-run stand for the seventh wicket that came in 116 balls. After entering his 90s, he was losing partners and the last man in MD Nidheesh played out three balls from Mukesh and this gave Varma strike but he got out, missing the hundred.
Meanwhile, East lost both openers early, giving a modicum of hope to South, but Kishan promoted himself to No 4 and took the attack to Mohammed Siraj and Co. Though the fans were disappointed to see Vaibhav Sooriyavanshi get out early, Kishan treated them with a breezy half-century.
Having conceded an overall lead of over 500 runs, the South bowlers just went through the motion. Ishan picked the length early and was harsh against both South spinners T Vijay and Shreyas Gopal. Ishan was precise in his footwork and his placements were spot on. He effortlessly notched up 80 but missed the chance to get the second ton of the match and rewrite the record books. In a momentary lapse of concentration, Ishan skied a slower one from Nidheesh and Devdutt Padikkal in the slips took the catch. By then, Ishan had added 126 runs in 170 balls for the third wicket with Shikhar Mohan who fell leg before to Shaik Rasheed shortly after.
When stumps were drawn, East Zone were leading by 584 runs. With at least two more sessions of play expected, Kishan will lead East to their first Duleep Trophy title in 14 years. Coincidentally, the last time East won the title was also at the same venue where they secured the title based on first innings lead against Central Zone.