Champs East Zone retain Duleep title

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East Zone have done it again. The defending champions have successfully retained the Duleep Trophy after getting the better of Central Zone on the final day of the title clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday.

Chasing 233 runs to gain the decisive first-innings lead, the Central unit put up a wretched batting performance that sealed their fate.

The losers ended up racking up a modest 189 from 83.5 overs as they crumbled under pressure against East spinners Iresh Saxena (5-58) and Anustup Majumdar (429).

Except overnight Tanmay Srivatsava 94 (252b, 8x4), none of the Central batsmen were able to show resistance. Despite his teammates failed to apply themselves at the crease, the left-handed opener kept the losing battle on.

At the stroke of tea, Anustup sent back wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat who was caught behind while going for a square-cut.

Rawat, by then, had added 50 runs with Tanmay. The leggie, later, sent in a googly to trap Bhuvneshwar Kumar in front of the wicket. The Bengal lad also accounted for Praveen Kumar and Murali Kartik’s wickets to eke out his best bowling figures. Kartik’s wicket, which was the last one to fall, triggered off wild celebrations in the East camp.

Earlier, Robin Bist was the first one to go when he was bounced out by speedster Basant Mohanty. In a while, Ashok Menaria edged left-arm spinner Iresh’s first delivery of the day into the hands of East Skipper Natraj Behera at first slip. Rest of the Central batsmen gave away their wicket cheaply.

SCOREBOARD East Zone (1st innings): 232.
Central Zone (1st innings): T.Srivastava c Jaggi b Iresh 94, V.Saxena c Mohanty b Iresh 22, M. Kaif lbw b Iresh 2, R. Bist c Jadhav b Mohanty 2, A. Menaria c Behera b Iresh 8, M. Rawat c SP Gautam b Anustup 24, J. Saxena c Tiwary b Iresh 7, B. Kumar lbw b Anustup 0, P.Kumar c Iresh b Anustup 1, M. Kartik c Tiwary b Anustup 17, I. Pandey (not out) 3. Extras (b1, w1, nb7): 9. Total (all out in 83.5 overs) 189.
FoW: 1-68, 2-74, 3-76, 4-97, 5-147, 6164, 7-165, 8-167, 9-178.
Bowling: Dinda 17-5-42-0, Mohanty 16-5-29-1, Iresh 25-6-58-5, Mangaraj 10-5-10-0, Samantray 6-2-12-0, Behera 2-0-8-0, Anustup 7.5-0-29-4.
East Zone (2nd innings): D. Jadhav (not out) 2, SP Gautam (not out) 4.Extras (w2): 2. Total (for no loss in five overs) 8. Bowling: Praveen 3-1-50, Jalaj 2-0-3-0.
MoM: Ishank Jaggi (East).