East all but seal title Duleep title after South's batting collapse

Ishan Kishan and South Zone skipper Tilak Varma underlined their red ball chops with 99 and 80 respectively but formers halfcentury has more contextual value as it placed East Zone firmly on course for a Duleep Trophy triumph on the fourth day of the final here on WednesdayTilaks 211ball knock lifted South to 336 all out in their first innings but still remained 372 runs adrift of Easts first dig total of 708 In their second innings East moved to 212 for five at close for an overall lead of 584 runs Kumar Kushagra 34 and Kounain Quraishi 26 were batting at close and have raised 52 runs for the unbroken sixth wicketBut those team numbers now carry a mere academic significance as East already have their hands around this seasons Duleep Trophy courtesy that irreversibly massive firstinnings lead However with a couple of important Test assignments coming up away against New Zealand and subsequently at home against Australia the selectors now have two solid options to mull over in front of themKishan who made an expansive 270 in the first innings here was comfortable from ball one in the ensuing essay as well during his 98ball knock The lefthander started his runmaking with a six off offspinner Tripurana Vijay over midwicket and never really took his feet off the pedal Kishan went after Vijay again towards the backend of his innings hammering him for 4 6 6 4 in successive balls in the 26th overMoments before that DRS saved Kishan who added 146 runs for the third wicket with Shikhar Mohan from a legbefore decision after onfield umpire Rohan Pandit upheld legspinner Shreyas Gopals appeal East took tea at 95 for two having swelled the lead by 467 runs But the 20minute break seemed to have affected Kishans rhythm as he soon got out lofting pacer MD Nidheesh to Devdutt Padikkal inside the legside circleThe motley Chepauk crowd hence could not see another Kishan hundred and they also had to endure the disappointment of Vaibhav Sooryavanshis early dismissal After DRS saved him from Vijays leg before appeal on 6 Sooryavanshi could not build something bigger getting stumped off the same bowler by Narayan JagadeesanMuch before that the audience also could not see a threefigure knock from Tilak who resumed from overnight 56 His innings helped South overnight 242 for six to go past the 300run mark but the lefthander will rue missing a second consecutive ton after making one in the semifinal last week at BengaluruThe Hyderabad batter did not let go his defencefirst approach even when wickets began to tumble at the other end Eventually his first attempt to hit out resulted in a return catch to offspinner Quraishi But later in the day another Hyderabad player had his best outing in recent timesMohammed Siraj had looked a distant shadow of his intense self since the tour to Sri Lanka often bowling with a shorter runup and reduced speed He struggled to summon the steely self in humid conditions when the 36yearold East Zone quick Mohammed Shami made the new and old ball talk even while bowling well within himself But in East Zones second innings here Siraj looked to have regained some of his familiar sharpnessThe increased nip accuracy and corrected length meant that Siraj remained a constant threat to batters edge He was eventually rewarded when East Zone opener Abhimanyu Easwaran tamely guided a delivery to Padikkal at slip However those were tiny glittering nuggets without making any significant alteration to the matchs courseThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever