East Zone skipper Ishan Kishan slammed 200 on Monday in the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone, putting his team in prime position.
The 28-year-old brought up his double ton in 270 deliveries in an innings studded with 26 fours and 2 sixes.
Kishan began the day at 111 as the captain and Kumar Kushagra (101) put East Zone in a commanding position on the second day of the Duleep final. On the opening day, teen phenom Vaibhav Sooryavanshi scored 44, Abhimanyu Easwaran slammed 72 and Shikhar Mohan chipped in with 85
Kishan, who completed 4000 first-class runs, merged aggression and composure in his innings. It came at an important juncture too when East were in trouble, the only time in the first innings so far, at 147 for three. South could have had their rivals in a far deeper predicament but Kishan and Mohan averted the disaster on a pitch that remained true the whole day.
On Sunday, Kishan’s was a complete innings, sending the ball to all parts of the field through powerful pulls and imperious drives through the covers. The left-hander reached his fifty in 71 balls and then the next 50 came off 51 balls, completing his 10th first-class hundred.
Kishan reached the landmark with a driven four off Shreyas Gopal, who was playing in his 100th first-class match. At the other end, Mohan has a solid presence, showing a lot more maturity than his tender 21 years. The feature of his innings was the judgment he showed to leave the ball outside off-stump.
There was not even one single play and miss in his innings. But his fifty was not all about defence as Mohan carted off-spinner Tripurana Vijay for a six and two fours in one over to showcase his range.
Just as he was nearing a well-deserved hundred, Mohan chopped left-arm pacer CV Milind, who replaced an injured Vidwath Kaverappa, on to his stumps.
In fact, it was the East’s first innings story in a nutshell, batters getting dismissed before the innings reached the full bloom. Easwaran, who is often dubbed as an obdurate batter, looked in complete control, and at times even outpaced Sooryavanshi.
They milked 100 runs for the opening wicket in just 14.overs and East seldom let that momentum slip.
Sooryavanshi would curse himself for playing a rather reckless pull off Milind for substitute Tanay Thayagarajan to offer a simple catch in the deep. It, perhaps, was the first time South bowlers tested the young left-hander with a short-pitched ball and it yielded instant results.