Duleep Trophy 2026 Final: After Ishan Kishan’s marathon 270 helped East Zone post a humungous total of 708, Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar maintained the pressure on South Zone to gain upper hand on Day 3 of the Duleep Trophy 2026 final at the M.A Chidambaram Stadium or the Chepauk in Chennai. Shami and Mukesh, both of who have played Test cricket, shared four wickets between them, taking two apiece, to put their side firmly on the path of victory.
Duleep Trophy 2026 Final: South Zone’s batting line-up crumbles in the face of East Zone’s mammoth total
Unlike the East Zone, who saw a 100-run opening stand between Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Abhimanyu Easwaran, South Zone lost their first wicket for 10 as Ricky Bhui perished for 1 after facing 18 deliveries. Narayan Jagadeesan struck six boundaries in his 42-ball 32 before perishing to Shikhar Mohan. Devdutt Padikkal continued his form from the two-Test series in Sri Lanka to make 62 but could not carry on to make a big score that South Zone desperately needed. Mukesh Kumar claimed his scalp for his second of the innings, having dismissed Bhui earlier.
Although captain Tilak Varma remains unbeaten on 56, facing 135 deliveries in total, he lost Shaikh Rasheed (27) and Ravichandran Smaran (23) as the duo lost their temperament at crucial junctures. Mohammed Shami had broken both partnerships to end threatening passages of play for East Zone. It seemed like South Zone will walk off with only five down for the day, until Md Kounain Quraishi ended Shreyas Gopal’s resistance on 26, ending a 66-run partnership. With Tilak the only recognized batter in the line-up, it remains to be seen how far the South Zone skipper can take them.
Duleep Trophy 2026 Final: What happens if the decider ends in a draw?
If the match ends in a draw, the winner gets determined by the first-innings lead. Whichever team takes the lead, will be declared winner of the coveted trophy.
In this case, South Zone are well behind the game and a draw or a loss remains on the card ahead of Day 4’s play.
Duleep Trophy 2026 Final: Brief Scorecard
South Zone 242/6 in 80 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 62, Tilak Varma 56*, Shami 2/17) trail East Zone 708 (Ishan Kishan 270, Kumar Kushagra 101, Tripurana Vijay 4/180) by 466 runs.
