Duleep Trophy 2026 Final Scorecard: The 2026 Duleep Trophy final brought the curtain down on India’s premier zonal red-ball competition. The summit clash between the East Zone and South Zone was played at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk) in Chennai from 6th to 10th September 2026, and reignited an inter-zonal battle that hadn’t been witnessed in a title match for over half a century.
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Day 5: Lunch Break – East Zone lead by 693 runs
Duleep trophy 2026 final scorecard east zone and south zone today
| E ZONE won by an innings and 210 runs | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abhimanyu Easwaran | c sub (T Thyagarajan) b Milind | 72 | 86 | 10 | 1 | 83.7 |
| Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | c (sub)T Thyagarajan Milind | 44 | 37 | 5 | 1 | 118.92 |
| Shikhar Mohan | b Milind | 85 | 120 | 9 | 3 | 72.8 |
| SK Gharami | c Milind b Vijay | 6 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 24.0 |
| Ishan Kishan (c)(wk) | Batting | 33 | 53 | 4 | 0 | 62.3 |
| K Kushagra | Batting | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 80.0 |
The two zones met each other only once before this fixture, in the final of a Duleep Trophy match in the Brabourne Stadium, Bombay in the 70-71 season. That was a match 54 years ago where S. Venkataraghavan and his ‘centuries’ of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and M. L. Jaisimha beat East Zone by 10 wickets. Over the past few decades, the tournament has had a few format changes, from zonal selections to individual drafted teams, before the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) brought back the six-zone format for the 2026-27 domestic season.
East Zone skipper wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan got his country to the 2026 decider after a gap of 13 years. They last turned up in this Chepauk stadium in the 2012-13 season, where they took a first innings lead over Central Zone to win their last title. On the other hand, South Zone needs to secure a 14th Duleep Trophy title in their 25th match appearance, having claimed the competition in last year’s match with a 75-run win against West Zone.
Duleep Trophy 2026 final was a dress rehearsal for the national team, in addition to regional pride. Duleep trophy 2026 final scorecard on livecricbuzz
Road to chepauk: Semi-final pathway
The semi final pathway to the Chepauk is located on the road to Chepauk. Both the finalists got through to Chepauk after a tough campaign of knockout matches. East Zone advanced to the quarterfinal round and South Zone played on directly from the loser bracket as the previous year’s semifinal finalists.
Duleep trophy 2026 final scorecard: East Zone’s Knockout Campaign
East Zone played their first game of the campaign against North East Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence, Bengaluru, with an innings and 210-run win. Shahbaz Ahmed scored 167 and five wickets of Abhijit Sarkar (5/20) and Anukul Roy (5/37) sealed North East Zone’s victory for 111 and 146.
In the semi, the East Zone played defending champions Central Zone which is led by Rajat Patidar. First day was a turning point for Central Zone when they lost 266 runs, with Mukesh Kumar on 3/38 and Abhijit Sarkar 3/38 and Rinku Singh on 60. The 15-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi (92 off 81 balls, 7 fours, 7 sixes) and Abhimanyu Easwaran (69 off 106 balls) combined for 161 in 57 overs for East Zone to match the tally.
The scare had to hit East Zone as Ishhan Kishan got injured in the wrist while wicket keeping and passed the baton of captaincy to Suryavanshi. Central Zone’s second innings that turned sour in the face of the speed bowlers of Mohammed Shami (3/56) and Mukesh Kumar (4/44) and was reduced to 158. East Zone survived a mid-innings collapse after left arm spinner Harsh Dubey (4/53) on the debut day of the series.On the first day of the series, left arm spinner Harsh Dubey (4/53) caused a mid-innings collapse for East Zone which they survived. East Zone was able to cross the line by four wickets thanks to a four-hit 43 off Suryavanshi and a four-hit 39 off Kishan.
Knockout Campaign is south zone’s initiative
The second semifinal of the tournament was between South Zone and North Zone in Bengaluru. On day one, South Zone bowled the North Zone out for 195 off 36 balls, including four wickets from Vidwath Kaverappa. After settling for 80/5, South Zone bounced back with 312 runs, led by a 175-run sixth wicket 116/87 (250/169) partnership between captain Tilak Varma and Shreyas Gopal.
In their second innings, North Zone got back on the scoreboard with 297 off half-centuries from Sanat Sangwan (76) and Qamran Iqbal (52). South Zone’s bowlers were led by Kerala’s M. D. Nidheesh who claimed 5/56 for his team. South Zone scored seven wickets for their victory on the fourth afternoon, with Set 181 declared winners. Ricky Bhui (42) and N. Jagadeesan (43) built a solid foundation of 64 points, but the win was secured by Tilak Varma who had no hit and scored (51) with Smaran Ravichandran (32).
Duleep trophy 2026 players stats
South Zone captain, Tilak Varma, took the toss and chose to bat first. In the lead up to the final, both teams made changes to their squads and tactics. But BCCI had provided Devdutt Padikkal and Mohammed Siraj as support in order to keep them in rhythm of the game.
Having Mahela Padikkal and him had come on the back of a brilliant series in Sri Lanka, where he scored two centuries at number three. Siraj was a replacement for Vidwath Kaverappa, who was curtailed by a hamstring injury in the semi. India head coach Gautam Gambhir has given them all a clean bill of health to feature in the last match ahead of the T20I series opener against Afghanistan.
East Zone’s attack was led by Mohammed Shami, who was making his 100th First-Class appearance. He played with Mukesh Kumar and Abhijit Sarkar provided him with seam. The 15-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi broke the pair for Bengal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, up the top. The middle order consisted of Ishan Kishan and Virat Singh while Anukul Roy and Md Kounain Quraishi remained in the middle order who represented the spin and lower-order batters.
Day 2: Lower Order Resistence and East Zone’s Opening Stand
On the second morning, South Zone set out to continue its momentum to over 350 but East Zone hit them hard first. Shami was able to dispose of a good length and trap Shaik Rasheed through to Kishan with a sharp bounce in the second over of the day. Tilak Varma was still able to keep the lower order intact, making just four runs off a century. But, on 96, he missed another off-break by Md Kounain Quraishi and caught one to Virat Singh at long-off. Shreyas Gopal (34 off 62 balls) and Tanay Thyagarajan (21) dished out runs late and Mukesh Kumar took the tail. South Zone were bowled out for 368 runs in 108.4 overs with Mukesh getting 4/72 and Shami catching 3/68.
The reply of the East Zone started with a powerful 142-run first stand between Abhimanyu Easwaran and Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Suryavanshi took the initiative against the new ball and bowled Nidheesh to the backward square leg to get him for six and scored boundaries off of Siraj.
Easwaran was the dependable partner, anchoring and spinning the strike, while deliveries made outside off stump. East Zone had built a formidable record of 112/0 in 26 overs by tea with Suryavanshi scoring 54 off 100 balls.
Early in the evening session South Zone broke through. Mohammed Siraj bowled Suryavanshi LBW for 74 off 72 balls (8four, 4six). Sudip Kumar Gharami came on to partner Easwaran who had hit his fifty from 110 balls. In the end, left arm spinner Tanay Thyagarajan managed to get a sharp turn and bounce, trapping Gharami (22) LBW. Virat Singh and Easwaran bowled East Zone to stumps at 198/2 in 54 overs with a dismal 170-run deficit.
Day 3: Spin Takes Charge and Afternoon Rain Delays
The surface cracking on Day 3 was hastened by the hot weather, and thus increased the spinners’ purchase in the South Zone. M. D. Nidheesh got an early breakthrough, making an inside breeze for Easwaran’s outside edge for 68.
Virat Singh (31) and Ishan Kishan then took the bat of the batters as they helped East Zone to a 46-run partnership and broke the spinners’ length with sweeps. Leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal broke the stand by swerving his leg around the Virat’s forward defence to beat the stump. East Zone came back to the game with a 264/4 edge at lunch.
The surface broke up in the second session with South Zone dominating. Thyagarajan dished out 4/82 and Gopal collected 3/64.
Day 4: Reverse swing and chase setup
On Day 4, South Zone had to deal with the crumbling pitch to build a lead over 250. South Zone had a 152 run lead after 118/3 at lunch. Shami got to deliver a reverse swing with the worn ball in the afternoon. Shreyas Gopal scored 19 to help South Zone knock off for 216 off 71.3 overs. Shami was 4/48 (19.3) and Mukesh Kumar followed with 3/52. That put East Zone on a 251-run chase.
On Day 4, the East Zone played 18 overs before stumps. Suryavanshi hooked the new ball and pulled Nidheesh to the fence after getting him hooked for six. It was South Zone’s turn to retaliate by bowling Easwaran (10) between bat and pad with a seaming delivery. Suryavanshi knocked 32 off 28 deliveries before she made a mistake and drove off to mid-off on Thyagarajan’s aerial effort. On Day 4 South Zone were in 56/2 for 195 runs at stumps in East Zone.
Day 5: Fourth-Innings Finish
The final day started with East Zone needing 195 runs on the rough and tumble surface. Sudip Kumar Gharami and Virat Singh did their duty well defensively against Gopal and Thyagarajan. Gopal then went on to trap Virat Singh for 34. A partnership of 62-run sixth wicket stand between Ishan Kishan and Anukul Roy changed the game.
Kishan took the sweep with the spin and Roy scored 29 off 61 balls. Mohammed Shami came in at the crease to replace his captain. Tilak set close-in fields with Kishan rotating the strike and taking advantage of loose balls.