Chennai. East Zone became the new winners of Duleep Trophy 2025-26. This is the third time that Eastern has captured the Duleep Trophy. This is after 13 years, East Zone has won this title.
Created history by playing match winning innings
The hero of the match was East Zone captain Ishan Kishan, who scored 270 runs in the first innings and 80 runs in the second innings, i.e. Ishan scored a total of 350 runs in the match, which is also a new record for the Duleep Trophy final. Thanks to the brilliant performance of captain Ishan Kishan (270 runs in the first innings, 80 runs in the second innings) and Kuneen Qureshi (116 not out), East Zone on Thursday won the Duleep Trophy title after 13 years by declaring the match a draw against South Zone after scoring 388 runs for seven wickets in the second innings.
Better performance of these players
Apart from Ishan Kishan, there was a lot of positive for East Zone, including youngster Shikhar Mohan who scored half-centuries in both the innings. Kumar Kushagra scored a century in the first innings and scored an excellent 46 runs in the second innings also. On the fifth day of the Duleep Trophy match, East Zone started the game ahead by 212 runs for five wickets. In the morning session, the sixth wicket of East Zone fell in the form of Kumar Kushagra (46) runs. He was dismissed by Chama Milind.
After this, Anukul Roy, who came to bat, created a big lead for his team by making a partnership of 150 runs with Kunin Qureshi. Anukul Roy's seventh wicket fell on the fourth ball of the 99th over. Anukul Roy scored 64 runs in 112 balls with the help of four fours and two sixes. After this, Mohammed Shami came to bat, shortly after which East Zone declared the innings at 388 runs for seven wickets. With this the match ended in a draw.
Miracle of Qunain Qureshi
Along with this, the wonders of Qunain Qureshi were also seen, who was playing only his second first-class match and also scored a century. Brief scores were as follows:- East Zone 1st innings 708 runs all players out. Innings declared at 388 runs in the second innings. South Zone:- All players out for 336 runs in the first innings.
Ishan Kishan said after winning Duleep Trophy title
'Today we have won this title as a team. After winning the Duleep Trophy title, East Zone captain and player of the match Ishan Kishan said, “To be honest, it is about staying together as a team. We did it as a group, we also won this title as a team. Everyone was taking care of each other.”
Ishan Kishan further says, I think I have tried to become a good leader. The journey does not end here. When you captain a team, mistakes are always going to happen… I think the most important thing was to understand the situation. You have to take care of each other and get yourself into the zone, which is where I was. This is a good change for me. I'm more calm now, I have more hunger and you always want to lead the team from the front.”
Captain Tilak Verma admitted his shortcomings after the defeat
South Zone captain Tilak Verma said, “It is disappointing for us. We were in a better position on the first day, but when they scored 700 runs, it became a bit difficult to chase such a big score. Full credit goes to their batsmen for this. To be honest, we did not bowl that well either. To be honest, we were just thinking of batting for three days. We tried our best to score 700 runs…Credit goes to East Zone, they gave us full credit.” Kind of knocked out.