West Zone completely gained control of the Duleep Trophy final at Stumps on Day 4 chasing an mammoth total of 529 runs and restricting South Zone to 154/6. As West Zone nearly finished the day with the title in their hands, left-arm spinner Shams Mulai and pace bowlers Jaydev Unadkat and Atit Sheth, and all took two wickets each.
They had an astounding second-innings total of 585/4 when they decided to declare because to their dominance, which began on Day 3 with Yashasi Jaiswal’s unbroken double-ton. Jaiswal stretched his overnight unbroken partnership with Sarfaraz Khan to 164 before South Zone could put breakers in place. Jaiswal scored 265 runs off just 323 balls in an amazing innings that featured 30 boundaries and 4 sixes.
While adding another century stand with Het Patel, who subsequently crossed the fifty-mark and was declared by West Zone captain Ajinkya Rahane, Sarfaraz scored an unbeaten total of 127. South Zone was given a challenging 529 to complete in just over four sessions.
Regardless, Kunnumal kept attacking and quickly built two partnerships, 44 runs partnership with Manish Pandey and one more partnership for 48 runs with Ricky Bhui, each of which was entirely under his control.
He hit 14 boundaries and a six in his 100-ball innings and unfortunately was bowled by Mulani in the closing minutes of play, falling seven runs short of a century. With just four lower-order wickets left, West Zone can more fairly anticipate winning the match than South, who is still 375 runs away from the target.
image credit : crictracker
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