After Priyank Panchal lost the fight early on the final day, West Zone stopped 75 short in the low-scoring title contest.
Sai Kishore had little bowling to do for the majority of the game
West Zone 146 (Shaw 65, Kaverappa 7-53) and 222 (Panchal 95, Koushik 4-36, Sai Kishore 4-57) were defeated by South Zone 213 (Vihari 63, Mulani 3-29) and 230 (Vihari 42, Jadeja 5-40) by 75 runs.
I opened the curtains when I woke up and turned to face the sky. Hanuma Vihari knew it would be difficult for South Zone to win the Duleep Trophy final on Sunday by capturing the five last West Zone wickets. They still needed to defend 116 runs, but Priyank Panchal remained undefeated at 92 overnight after playing a tenacious and skillful inning on a Chinnaswamy surface that was beginning to show its age.
As it turned out, Vihari’s wishes were heard as the day in Bengaluru dawned cloudy and grey, allowing the seamers to enter the match immediately. After taking a career-high 7 for 53 in the first innings, which garnered praise and a motivational speech from the national selectors, Vidwath Kaverappa dismissed Panchal with a delivery that kept its line in the second over of the day. The significant obstacle in South’s path was removed. From that point on, it appeared that victory was a given. West’s batting prowess was defeated with accuracy and thoughtful bowling strategies. Three of the five wickets lost on the last day were taken by left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore, each of whom used flight to trick batters in the lower order into hitting huge smashes. Because spinners were seeking releases as soon as possible, it was a resounding affirmation of how brilliantly the Pacers bowled throughout the game. Sadly, they were unable to obtain it.
Atit Sheth, the final man out, was killed by the dip as he swung for the hills after Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and Chintan Gaja were caught at midwicket and out, respectively. Sai Kishore had little bowling to do for the majority of the game, finishing with 4 for 57. The preferred bowler among the group was a seamer named V Koushik. The game was decided by his late-day spell on the fourth day, resulting in the dismissals of Cheteshwar Pujara and Suryakumar Yadav in three deliveries. Koushik benefited from accuracy and late movement, preventing batters from entering automatic mode. His bowling style is reminiscent of Mohinder Amarnath’s, with the saunter and air of languidness before concluding with a whippy action.
Even though he may be a late bloomer at age 30, his performance served as another reminder of the value he provides to Karnataka in domestic cricket and the team’s ability to establish a strong bowling unit with Vijaykumar Vyshak and Player-of-the-Match Kaverappa. The Karnataka pace trio took 16 of the 20 wickets for the West. When the game was carefully poised in the second inning, Koushik’s blows tripped West, and Kaverappa’s seven-for set up the game in the first inning. Prithvi Shaw was bowled at a critical point in the first innings after he had hit 65 thanks to Vyshak’s prolonged short-ball strategy; he is currently riding a wave of confidence from his initial IPL stint earlier this year. Vyshak’s pivotal performance in the semi-final versus North Zone, when he picked up 5 for 76 to minimize the lead in a game that was determined by razor-thin margins, was incidentally the reason South found themselves in the final.
West had a far more robust batting lineup on paper, but South showed how the game was played. Suryakumar, the vice-captain of India’s T20I team, had underwhelming results, making just one half-century in four knocks. Suryakumar will go to the UK to fulfill his county obligations with Sussex. Pujara scored 28, 133, 9, and 15 in his four outings. In his four innings, Shaw, who opted to play in England rather than for the Deodhar Trophy, managed 26, 25, 65, and 7. Shaw doesn’t even make India’s second-string squad for the Asian Games, which shows how far he’s fallen. In that sense, a chance to win the Duleep Trophy was lost. Like Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan also made matters worse with his meager output; his 48 on Saturday was his sole meaningful innings of the competition. Playing two straight games without being injured must have seemed like a victory for someone like Washington Sundar, who was still getting his bearings following a string of injuries. He didn’t bowl too many overs, which is a separate issue, but he hit well during his time in the middle, leading one to ask why he didn’t bat much higher than No. 7.
They sang the 1970s chart topper Yeh dosti hum nahin todenge (We won’t break this friendship) about friendship as Vihari raised the trophy and South posed for the winning photo. It explained why the zonal model was superior to placing players on arbitrary teams like Red, Green, and Blue. “With that structure, players were just going through the motions. We didn’t feel as like we were from different states when we arrived here. It felt different, there was constant energy,” Vihari stated following the victory.
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