South Zone clinches 14th Duleep Trophy title as West Zone succumb to 75-run loss

Duleep Trophy 2023 (Source: Twitter)

South Zone registered a comprehensive 75-run victory over West Zone to clinch their 14th Duleep Trophy on Sunday, July 16. They also consider it as a sweet revenge for their 294-run loss to West in the 2022 final. The rise of spinners and pace bowlers to the occasion, along with disciplined batting, enabled them to dominate throughout the tournament.

Chasing a target of 298 runs on the final day, West Zone batters struggled to find any resistance and the side was eventually bowled out for 222. Left-arm spinner Sai Kishore and pacer Vasuki Koushik were the main destroyers as the duo picked up a total of eight wickets in the process.

Day 5 began with an overnight score of 182/5, with West captain Priyank Panchal on 92. Panchal looked threatening, but he could only add three runs before being caught behind the stumps off Vidwath Kaverappa's bowling. This shifted the momentum to South, despite Atit Sheth and Dharmendra Jadeja putting up a 54-run stand for the eighth wicket.

Sarfaraz Khan, Suryakumar Yadav and Cheteshwar Pujara disappointed  

Earlier, Sarfaraz Khan played a crucial knock for West, hitting 48 off 76 balls, but the tournament overall was a disappointment for the youngster, as he struggled to get runs and even got two ducks. He was ignored by Team India selectors for the West Indies tour but failed to reply with his bat. Other big names Suryakumar Yadav and Cheteshwar Pujara also disappointed in the final, getting out cheaply in both innings.

Meanwhile, South captain Hanuma Vihari will be proud of his performance and got back the attention of the selectors. The right-handed batter was the top scorer for his team with 63 runs in the first innings and 42 runs in the second innings. Vihari was also not considered for the ongoing two-match Test series against Windies. However, leading his domestic side from the front will certainly open the selectors' eyes in the future.

"Yeah! I definitely enjoyed captaincy. When you have a team like that you will enjoy doing captaincy. When you have this kind of bowling attack, captaincy pressure will come down. It was our plan to curtail them to below three runs (per over), and they executed it as the quality bowlers will make the captain's job really easy," said Vihari after South Zone's triumph.