Hanuma Vihari and Ajinkya Rahane will go head to head when they lead their respective teams, South Zone and West Zone, in the final of the 2022 Duleep Trophy at the SNR College Ground in Coimbatore starting on Wednesday.
South Zone have played just the solitary match in the tournament, the second semi-final against North Zone, but they were utterly dominant throughout the contest and showcased how threatening they could be on their day, while performing as a unit.
Opting to bat first, South Zone declared at a mammoth total of 630/8, on the back of centuries from Kerala batter and opener Rohan Kunnummal (143), skipper Hanuma Vihari (134) and Ricky Bhiui (103*).
The team’s collective effort was even more prominent when the likes of Baba Indrajith (65), Mayank Agarwal (49), Manish Pandey (35), Krishnappa Gowtham (48) and Ravi Teja (42).
In North Zone’s first innings reply, all they could manage was 207 on board, on the back of knocks from Nishant Sindhu (40) and Yash Dhull (39, India’s U19 World Cup-winning stars. Despite the sizeable lead of 423 runs, South Zone did not enforce the follow-on, and batted again. Kunnumal (77) continued his fine form, while Mayank Agarwal (64) and Ravi Teja (104*) too shone to take South Zone to 316/4 declared.
Needing a mammoth total of 740 to win, North Zone collapsed like ninepins, with their oly positive being a knock of 59 by Yash Dhull as they were bundled out for 94.
R Sai Kishore was hailed as the star man for South Zone, picking up 10 wickets in the contest, including seven-for in the first innings.
However, West Zone too cannot be counted off by any means. Prithvi Shaw, the tournament’s highest run-getter with 315 runs from three innings, has been in top form notching up centuries in both their previous matches (Quarter-final and the semi-final). To put things into context, Shaw has scores of 113, 60 and 142 across the three innings for the West Zone, so he could be a real threat in the contest.
As far as West Zone’s results in the tournament so far are concerned, their quarter-final game against North East Zone ended in a draw, but a 355-run first innings lead for the West Zone propelled them to the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, they went onto meet Central Zone, against whom they beat by 279 runs. Prithvi Shaw was adjudged Player of the Match for his batting heroics, while credit must also be given to Shams Mulani, who scalped a five-wicket haul to see off Central Zone for 221 in their run-chase.
It will be an exciting contest on paper, but even apart from that, it will be interesting to see a duel between Prithvi Shaw and R Sai Kishore, who are the tournament’s leading run-scorer and leading wicket-taker.
Squads:
South Zone: Hanuma Vihari(Captain), Rohan Kunnummal, Mayank Agarwal, Baba Indrajith, Manish Pandey, Ricky Bhui, Krishnappa Gowtham, Telukupalli Ravi Teja, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Tanay Thyagarajan, Basil Thampi, Lakshay Garg, Eknath Kerkar, Devdutt Padikkal, Cheepurapalli Stephen
West Zone: , Ajinkya Rahane(Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Armaan Jaffer, Het Patel, Shams Mulani, Atit Sheth, Tanush Kotian, Jaydev Unadkat, Chintan Gaja, Chirag Jani, Satyajeet Bachhav, Shreyas Iyer, Chetan Sakariya, Hardik Tamore
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