Duleep Trophy 2026 Final: Tilak Varma was dismissed for the first time in the Duleep Trophy 2026, and it happened at the worst time possible.
The South Zone captain was batting on 99 with the tail when he was the last batter to fall ending his side’s innings and failing to score yet another century. With Varma’s dismissal, East Zone managed to take a massive 372-run lead and it will be more than enough for the Ishan Kishan-led side to win the final today.
Tilak Varma Falls on 99 in Duleep Trophy 2026 Final
Tilak Varma came agonizingly close to scoring another century in the Duleep Trophy 2026. India’s T20I vice-captain was batting against a huge 708-run score by East Zone. It was always going to be a tough ask for the South Zone team to step up, but barring Varma, none of the batters who got any start made it into a big score.
Tilak came to the crease at the fall of third wicket with 126 runs on the board. Devdutt Padikkal was sonon dismissed after adding another couple of runs to his score. Smaran Ravichandran showed some adding 23 runs to the score, but the young batter was dismissed by veteran pacer, Mohammed Shami. In a 66-run sixth-wicket stand with Shaik Rasheed, Varma got to his half-century and looked largely untroubled facing Shami and Mukesh Kumar.
It was a 78-run seventh-wicket that showed some respite from the South Zone. Chama Milind scored 43 and hung around for a while, but his wicket opened up an end for the East Zone bowlers to bowl out the opposition.
With wickets falling at the other end, Tilak tried to play against the turn to a tossed-up delivery by Md Kounain Quraishi and ended up losing his wicket one run before scoring a century.
East Zone Takes 372-Run Lead After 1st Innings
East Zone managed to take a 372-run lead after the first innings thanks to an incredible batting performance from Ishan Kishan (270), Kumar Kushagra (101), Abhimanyu Easwaran (72) and Shikhar Mohan (85). Thanks to a double century from their captain, East Zone finished with 708 runs in the first innings.
In reply, Mukesh Kumar picked up three wickets while Mohammed Shami, Md Kounain Quraishi and Shikhar Mohan returned with two wickets apiece on a track that assisted the batters.