West Zone beat South Zone by 294 runs, lift Duleep Trophy for 19th time

Ajinkya Rahane-led West Zone team defeated the Hanuma Vihari-led South Zone on Sunday by 294 runs to win the Duleep Trophy for a record 19th time. The Rahane-led team wrapped the contest as they bowled out Vihari's team on 234 at SNR College Cricket Ground, Coimbatore. The match saw West Zone dominating after making a comeback into the game as they trailed in the first innings. Notably, West Zone's Yashasvi Jaiswal has been adjudged as the Player of the match, while his team-mate Jaydev Unadkat has been awarded the Player of the series award.

Batting first, West Zone put a target of 270 runs with Het Patel and Unadkat scoring 98 and 47 runs, respectively. They were in trouble as they lost early wickets until Shreyas Iyer and Sarfaraz Khan stabilised the ship and then Patel and Unadkat took the team to a competitive total. For South Zone, Sai Kishore scalped five wickets. Coming out to bat, South Zone displayed some fine cricket with Indrajith topping the scoring



sheets with a 118-run knock. The players contributed but no one else crossed the fifty-run mark and South Zone could not take a big lead as they got bowled out for 327. For West Zone, Unadkat took four wickets.

In the second innings, the pendulum was nearly in the middle. However, the Rahane-led side showed brilliant cricket. Jaiswal notched up a double ton with a score of 265, while Sarfaraz also scored an unbeaten 127. This is where South Zone was probably pushed out of the match. With 529 runs required in the final innings to win the final, South Zone kept losing wickets. Rohan Kunnummal scored a valiant 93 while Ravi Teja also kept the fight going but it was all too much for them. On the final day of the match, West Zone bowled South Zone on 234 runs. 

With this, West Zone has become the most successful team in the Duleep Trophy tournament as they have won record 19 titles. They were earlier tied with North Zone at 18 wins.