Duleep TrophySouth Zone captain Tilak Varma missed out on scoring a century in the Duleep Trophy final, falling just one run short. He was the last batsman to be dismissed in South Zone's first innings.
His dismissal marked the end of South Zone's first innings. South Zone scored 336 runs, resulting in East Zone securing a massive lead of 372 runs; East Zone had posted 708 runs in their first innings.
Tilak Varma Out for 99
Tilak Varma was dismissed by East Zone spinner Mohammad Kunain Qureshi in the first innings. Qureshi took the catch off his own bowling. Varma scored 99 runs off 211 balls, hitting nine boundaries.
He thus missed out on his ninth first-class century by a single run. With this score of 99, Tilak Varma was the top scorer for South Zone in the first innings.
Two major partnerships, yet the score remained far behind East Zone's total
Tilak Varma was involved in two half-century partnerships during his innings. He added 66 runs for the sixth wicket with Shreyas Gopal and shared a 78-run stand for the seventh wicket with C. Milind.
These were two significant partnerships during South Zone's first innings. While they propelled South Zone's total past the 300-run mark, the score still remained well short of East Zone's tally.
South Zone resumed play on the fourth day from their overnight score of 246 for 6. However, the team was bowled out after adding another 90 runs to their first-innings total. Tilak Varma and Devdutt Padikkal were the two batters who scored half-centuries for South Zone; Padikkal was dismissed for 56 runs.
Mukesh Kumar: East Zone's Successful Bowler
Mukesh Kumar took the highest number of wickets three for East Zone in the first innings. Apart from him, Mohammed Shami and Kunain Qureshi claimed two wickets each.
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