Duleep Trophy final | Ishan Kishan’s double century helps East bury South under a mountain of runs

Kishan feasted on the South bowling unit. | Photo Credit: R. Ragu Ishan Kishan has been on a rollercoaster ride over the last few years. From being part of all three formats in 2023, he hit rock bottom by early 2024 when he was dropped from the BCCI central contract list, partly for his refusal to turn up for the Ranji Trophy.Since then, the Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batter has been making amends, putting in the hard yards in domestic cricket to forge his way back into India’s T20 and ODI squads. Now, the 28-year-old is showing that he is ready to do the same in the longest format as well. He hammered 270 (334b, 30x4, 7x6) for East Zone against South Zone on day two of the Duleep Trophy final at the MAC Stadium here on Monday.Resuming the day at 385 for four, East posted a gargantuan total of 708 with Kumar Kushagra (101, 132b, 8x4, 5x6) completing his century. Kishan and Kushagra added 230 for the fifth wicket, pummeling a hapless South attack into submission.Kishan set the tone with a brace of boundaries off Mohammed Siraj and M.D. Nidheesh. Kushagra soon joined in the act, lofting C.V. Milind and driving Nidheesh down the ground. He raced through his 90s by taking on Shreyas Gopal and brought up his hundred.South’s only hope to stage a comeback was with the second new ball, but Siraj was off-colour yet again, bowling just three overs.Post lunch, Kishan tore into Shreyas, smashing the leggie for three boundaries in an over. What stood out during the southpaw’s knock was how he shunned risks even when using the feet, often drilling it past the bowler along the ground. He raised his second First Class double century with a searing cover drive off Devdutt Padikkal.After the milestone, Kishan switched to T20 mode and unleashed a barrage of sixes, lofting spinners Shreyas and T. Vijay over the ropes with disdain. He needed just 30 more deliveries to raise his bat again — for a 250 — despite battling cramps. Barring a miracle over the last three days, Kishan might have ensured East has one hand on the Duleep Trophy.The scores:East Zone — 1st innings: Abhimanyu Easwaran run out 72, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi c sub (Tanay) b Milind 44, Shikhar Mohan b Milind 85, Sudip Kumar Gharami c Milind b Vijay 6, Ishan Kishan c Smaran b Vijay 270, Kumar Kushagra c Milind b Vijay 101, Anukul Roy lbw b Rasheed 45, Md. Kounain Quraishi c Siraj b Shreyas 40, Mohammed Shami b Shreyas 28, Abhijit Sarkar (not out) 0, Mukesh Kumar c & b Vijay 0; Extras (b-8, lb-2, nb-6, w-1): 17; Total (in 163 overs): 708.Fall of wickets: 1-100, 2-133, 3-147, 4-241, 5-471, 6-626, 7-680, 8-698, 9-708.South Zone bowling: Siraj 25-3-140-0, Nidheesh 15-2-58-0, Vijay 42-4-180-4, Milind 21-2-88-2, Shreyas 42-7-165-2, Rasheed 13-0-46-1, Padikkal 4-0-18-0, Bhui 1-0-3-0. Published - September 07, 2026 07:36 pm IST