Duleep Trophy final: Padikkal, Tilak, Sooryavanshi eye red-ball gain; Siraj searches rhythm
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Devdutt Padikkal and Tilak Varma will be eager to amplify their recent red ball gains while Mohammed Siraj will look to rediscover his rhythm ahead of some important assignments when East Zone face South Zone in the Duleep Trophy final here from Sunday.
Padikkal exploited his fortuitous entry into the Indian team, courtesy an injury to Sai Sudharsan, for the recent Test series against Sri Lanka to the hilt. The Karnataka batter returned home with two hundreds in as many Tests and a Player of the Series award to boot with. Now, he will be hoping to replicate that performance for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy final. It will certainly help his side regain the title after 2023, but such an effort will further boost Padikkal’s claim for a longer run at No. 3. Both Sooryavanshi and Tilak are not currently in the red ball scheme of things as far as the national team is concerned.
But Tilak, India’s T20 vice-captain, made a strong case for himself to be considered in the traditional format scoring an unbeaten hundred and fifty in the semifinals against North Zone recently in Bengaluru. It also prompted the left-hander, who leads South Zone, to openly manifest his desire to don India whites.
East Zone’s Sooryavanshi made a 92 and 40 in the semifinal against Central Zone to state that his game has more contours to it than smashing sixes at will in white ball format. Now, if he can make a similar impact in the final then it will add more vigour to Sooryavanshi’s journey to become a true all-format batter. However, seasoned pacer Siraj, who might replace injured pacer Vidwath Kaverappa, needs to slip into top gear before the upcoming tour to New Zealand. The South Zone pacer looked so off-colour against Sri Lanka in the two-match rubber.
He barely crossed 135 kmph in any of the four innings he bowled, often operating well below his best. That lethargy prompted skipper Shubman Gill to underline the need for Siraj to regain his rhythm.
Ishan Kishan will lead East Zone, and he will be looking forward for some valuable game time before joining the India squad for the T20I series against Afghanistan next week. KL Rahul too will be looking forward to another round of red-ball game before intensifying his preparations for the tour to New Zealand next month. Rahul however was yet to link up with South Zone unit 24 hours before the game.
A capable East Zone attack comprising veteran India pacer Mohammad Shami, Mukesh Kumar and spinner Anukul Roy will test his skills on a pitch that often has something for the bowlers.
In that group, Shami will be a notable presence. The Bengal seamer will be appearing in his 100th first-class game, a whopping achievement for a fast bowler in this age of non-stop cricket.
But then Shami, who has 903 wickets across first-class, List A and T20 matches, is not precisely on radar of national selectors. His last match for India was the Champions Trophy final in March 2025. But Shami, who was felicitated by the Cricket Association of Bengal, is far from disheartened. On most given occasions, the 36-year-old has produced some fiery spells to remind the powers that be that he might just have one more ride left in him.
Perhaps, an impact effort in the Duleep Trophy might just give him a sniff. However, it will be a fascinating sight over the next five days to watch some accomplished cricketers trying to channelise individual goals for teams’ benefits.
Teams (from)
South Zone: Tilak Varma (Captain), Ricky Bhui (Vice-captain & Wicketkeeper), SK Rasheed, K Sai Teja, T Vijay, Abhinav Tejrana, K Himateja, T Thyagarajan, R Smaran, Karun Nair, Shreyas Gopal, Vidwath Kaverappa, MD Nidheesh, N Jagadeesan, Aman Khan, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohammad Siraj.
East Zone: Ishan Kishan (Captain & Wicketkeeper), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (Vice-Captain), Denish Das, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Shahbaz Ahmed, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mohd. Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Kumar Kushagra, Shikhar Mohan, Anukul Roy, Virat Singh, Subhranshu Senapati, Abhijit Sarkar. Match starts at 9:30 am IST.
