CHENNAI: An unbeaten century by Ishan Kishan (111 batting) and half-centuries by Abhimanyu Easwaran (72), S Mohan (85) and Kumar Kushagra (63 batting) put East Zone in command as they piled on the misery of South Zone bowlers to post 385 for 4 in 79 overs on the first day of the Duleep Trophy final at the MA Chidambaram stadium here on Sunday.
Ishan played a compact and fluent innings as he treated the South spinners Shreyas Gopal and T Vijay with disdain and countered a hostile spell from Mohammed Siraj with panache. Both Siraj and CV Milind set up a hook trap for Ishan and Mohan, hitting the flat pitch on short lengths.
But it was of no use as Ishan and Mohan countered the pacers with controlled aggression and did not fall to the trap. The duo raised 94 runs in 129 balls for the fourth wicket which helped East breach the 250-run mark. While on 99, Ishan drove Shreyas Gopal down the ground to get to his milestone. Mohan, who looked set for a century, was played on trying to pull a short delivery from Milind.
Opting to bat first, East Zone got off to an excellent start with Abhimanyu Easwaran and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi playing to the merit of the ball. Abhimanyu's experience came in handy as he cut, drove and pulled with relish. His late cut off spinner Tripurana Vijay and a lofted on drive off the same bowler showed his class. Vaibhav, playing his first five-day game, showed that he has the temperament to play the longest version of the game in the 93 minutes he was in the middle. WV Raman, former India player and veteran coach, was impressed by the teenager's approach to red-ball cricket. "A lot of people wanted to see how he plays in red-ball cricket. He is playing well. From what we saw in the semis and final so far, he is playing an innings which are of impact. And that's his basic style of play. As far as I am concerned, I think as he goes along he will do whatever it takes for him to play all the three formats," Raman told this daily. "He has got the talent for it. He has improved on his offside play because everybody felt he was more of a leg side player after seeing him in the IPL. But he has worked a lot, apparently from what you see, he has worked a lot on his offside play. And he is shaping up well," he added.
Vaibhav, on Sunday, did not play too many shots through the leg side, but Raman felt he restrained himself early on because of the field South Zone had. "He was not wanting to take his chances. And that's a good sign because he is trying to adapt himself to red-ball cricket and trying to do well there, which is great. Because so far we have only seen him in the white-ball format where he has done extraordinarily well against the best in the business. But here in the red-ball format also he is trying to make an impact," Raman explained. "He is on a learning curve. He has got a lot of cricket ahead of him. The important thing about any youngster is to see whether he is improving which he is doing. Which is fantastic. I am sure that this boy is going to go places and has a future in red-ball cricket as time progresses. There is no doubts on that," he added.
In the final session of play, Ishan and Kushagra countered some negative tactics by the South bowlers. Siraj looked ordinary and his 14 overs cost 96 runs and he went wicketless. With the wicket holding on well and Ishan in fine touch, East Zone will fancy themselves to post an imposing total on Monday.
Brief scores: East 385/4 in 79 ovs (Kishan 111 batting, Mohan 85, Kushagra 63 batting, Easwaran 72) vs South Zone.
