Many congratulations to the East Zone team for winning the Duleep Trophy after a long gap. It’s a good sign for Indian cricket to see a team with just one big name in batting and one big name in bowling lift the trophy. What it shows is that, if a team is well-led and combines well, then they can win matches and trophies.

The disappointing part was that East Zone did not go for an outright win and instead prolonged their second innings unnecessarily. That both skippers agreed to end the game earlier than scheduled also doesn’t sit well. If the game was to be stopped early, then why wasn’t it stopped at lunch time itself, when it was clear that in the two sessions remaining South Zone was never going to chase down a score more than 650 runs.