On the third day of the Duleep Trophy finals, Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a double century, crushing the South Zone.
On the third day of the Duleep Trophy finals, Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a double century, crushing the South Zone. On the third day of the Duleep Trophy final at the SNR College Cricket Ground in Coimbatore on Friday, Yashasvi Jaiswal hit a massive double-century, his second of the tournament. This helped West Zone beat South Zone badly.
The team led by Ajinkya Rahane was 319 runs ahead of the South Zone team after they scored 376 runs in just 83.1 overs. The West Zone batters built on the momentum given to them by the fast bowlers Jaydev Unadkat and Chintan Gaja, who got rid of the South Zone’s last batsman in just 13 balls. This allowed the West Zone to take a 57-run lead after the first inning.
West Zone showed that it was in charge when Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer put together 169 runs for the third wicket. Then, Sarfaraz Khan’s steady unbeaten 30 runs in 58 balls made things worse for South Zone. Earlier, Rahane was out for 15 when Krishnappa Gowtham caught him in the front. Gowtham had an otherwise unlucky day. Rahane’s dismissal was his cherry, but there was no cake.
Yashasvi – The game changer
During his game-changing time at the crease, Jaiswal kept a steady pace and a sense of the moment. He hit Sai Kishore for four at long-off, giving him his 200 off 235 balls. And then the celebrations were worth watching. With a ramp to the third man boundary, it took him 159 balls to get to 150. A late cut past the slip cordon got him to 100 in 119 balls, and a six over long-off got him to 50 in 56 balls. It was indeed a wonderful day for Jaiswal at the Mastercard Duleep Trophy!
Iyer’s play
Basil Thampi was brought back into the attack with a fine leg, a deep square leg, and short midwicket. However, Iyer kept ducking, and on a couple of occasions, he misjudged the length of the ball and awkwardly used his bat to defend himself.
But Vihari gave up quickly when Gowtham and Kishore took the bowling attack, which recreated Iyer’s strength against spin. Then, T Ravi Teja, a medium-pace bowler, came back, Iyer hit a short ball over the third-man fence before getting to 50 off 90 balls after tea. Then, he made a statement by pulling another short one from Thampi for a four at deep square leg. He then rocked back and did the same thing to Kishore’s delivery with a maximum.
Just when it looked like Iyer had won it for himself and his team, he played a poor shot, landing him back into the pavilion.
A good start
Earlier, Jaiswal, who had only scored four runs in his last three innings, got off to a good start by driving Thampi through the covers for four runs in the first over. However, when the pacer was taken off, he had given up 33 runs in three overs. Hence, the West Zone had already scored 40 runs without losing any wickets.
Yashasvi’s fellow opener Priyank Panchal (40) got in trouble because of VC Stephen. The latter came around the wicket to beat the right-hander consistently with the new ball. However, Panchal looked at ease against Gowtham, giving it back to the off-spinner, hitting him for two fours.
In the 17th over, West Zone was already 21 runs ahead. They hadn’t lost any wickets. Vihari brought in Kishore. Of course, he had taken the most wickets in the tournament. When Kishore got Panchal walking back, he made his captain proud. This ended the quick 138-run opening stand.
The missed ball – A twist of fate
If wicketkeeper Ricky Bhui had caught a sharp throw from Gowtham, South Zone would have had Jaiswal out for 62. But instead, the left-hander took advantage after the break. He was cutting pacers off the backfoot with style, teasing spinners with late cuts, and taming them by charging down the track and clearing the straight boundaries. Gowtham could have also gotten Iyer out for 58 if Rohan Kunnummal had taken a hard chance at square leg. But he got only disappointment.
South Zone’s captain Vihari bowled the last over before the end of the day. He ended a frustrating day that left them on the edge of giving up.