Quraishi century headlines final day as East Zone secure Duleep Trophy
With the Duleep Trophy virtually theirs because of their first-innings lead, the Jharkhand allrounder brought up his maiden first-class century before East Zone declared
With the Duleep Trophy virtually theirs because of their first-innings lead, the Jharkhand allrounder brought up his maiden first-class century before East Zone declared
The fourth day's play ended with East Zone 584 runs in front and an outright win unlikely on a pitch offering little to bowlers
Shami and Mukesh picked up two wickets apiece as South Zone ended day three six down and still trailing East Zone by 466 runs
With three days remaining, South Zone have no option but to simply bat big and hope the surface doesn't come to life late in the game
East Zone took a giant stride towards reclaiming the Duleep Trophy with almost all their batters making substantial contributions
"I'm growing as a captain and enjoying it," Tilak Varma says, looking back at his recent stints as captain of the India A side and now South Zone
Mukesh said attacking stumps also benefited the East Zone attack, as they reduced South Zone to 242 for 6
The East Zone captain said leadership leads to a mindset change and "you become much calmer about things"
Making his debut in the competition, the Jharkhand batter scored twin fifties and put in an admirable shift with his left-arm spin in the absence of Anukul Roy
Nair's reply to a social-media post was at odds with South coach Vikram Verma's claim that he left for personal reasons
He might not have age on his side and he might have dropped off the national selectors' radar, but Mohammed Shami won't stop doing special things when he gets a chance
Playing at the Duleep Trophy in what is his landmark game, Gopal is now mature enough to take tough days in his stride and not beat himself up too much
The Duleep Trophy final between South and East Zone begins on Sunday in Chennai
Once news went out that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was batting on the first morning of the Duleep Trophy final, sections of Chepauk filled up very quickly
"I think he has that hunger and that motivation right now [to return to the national team]," Ishan Kishan says about Mohammed Shami, East Zone's pace spearhead
He was earlier criticised for not showing enough desire to play red-ball cricket but since then, he has travelled the length and breadth of India to play various formats of multi-day cricket
Rahul unavailable for South Zone while Kishan, Sooryavanshi and Shami will again hold key for East Zone