East Zone skipper Ishan Kishan scored an unbeaten century whereas opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shikhar Mohan and Kumar Kushagra contributed with fifties to help pile on 385/4 on Day 1 of Duleep Trophy 2026 final against Tilak Varma’s South Zone at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. Varma's tactics were not up to the mark and Mohammed Siraj looked off-colour as East Zone dominated the first day of the final.
Sooryavanshi, Easwaran get East Zone to terrific start
Kishan won the toss and opted to bat first. Siraj started well with the new ball but in the seventh over Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had it enough. The youngster hit Siraj for two fours and a six. Easwaran was not batting at a slow rate either and East Zone had 91 for no loss after first hour's play. Easwaran got to his half-century from 46 deliveries. The partnership was broken by Chama Milind in the 15th over. The young opener scored 44 runs from 37 balls, including five fours and a six. The opening partnership of 100 runs lasted 14.4 overs.
Replacing Virat Singh in the side, Jharkhand's Shikhar Mohan joined Easwaran in the middle. In the 25th over, Easwaran was run out after a mix-up with Mohan. He managed to score 72 runs from 86 balls, including 10 fours and a six. At the end of first session, East Zone were 133/2.
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Easwaran, Mohan miss 100-run mark
A few overs into the second session, Sudip Kumar Gharami got out for a single-digit score, getting caught at mid-on off Tripurna Vijay's bowling. Skipper Kishan joined Mohan early into the second session. Mohan took on Vijay, hitting him for a six and two fours. In the 37th over, he reached his fourth first-class half-century from 61 balls. Mohan took on Shreyas Gopal as well, hitting two sixes in the 48th over. Mohan missed a chance to score a ton as he dragged the short ball from Milind to his stumps. He scored 85 runs from 120 balls, including nine fours and three sixes. After the second session, East Zone were 246/4 from 54 overs.
Umpires warn South Zone for over rate, Kishan scores ton
In the third session, Siraj was taken to the cleaners by his Gujarat Titans (GT) teammate Kushagra. Meanwhile, stand-in captain Ricky Bhui (in Varma's absence from the field) was given an official warning by umpires for taking too long between overs.
In the 63rd over, Kishan reached his half-century from 71 balls. Varma seemed to lose control of the proceedings as Kishan and Kushagra attacked from both ends. In the 75th over, Kushagra completed his seventh first-class half-century from 67 balls. In the 77th over, Kishan reached his 10th first-class ton with a boundary off Gopal. He took 122 deliveries to reach three figures.
At the end of Day 1's play, East Zone were 385/4. Kishan was batting on 111 runs from 135 balls. On the other end, Kushagra scored 63 runs from 75 balls. They shared an unbeaten 144-run partnership for the fifth wicket.