Chennai, September 10, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
South Zone captain Tilak Varma admitted that his side were completely outplayed by East Zone in the 2026-27 Duleep Trophy final, saying the defending champions effectively lost control of the contest after conceding more than 700 runs in the first innings at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
East Zone posted a mammoth 708 in their first innings, powered by captain Ishan Kishan’s double century, before dismissing South Zone for 325 to secure their third Duleep Trophy title on the basis of a commanding first-innings lead.
The victory ended South Zone’s hopes of retaining the title and gave East Zone their first Duleep Trophy triumph since the 2012-13 season.
“Honestly, it is disappointing for us, but there have been a lot of learnings in this game, and hopefully we’ll come back stronger,” Varma said during the post-match presentation ceremony.
“If you have seen, honestly, the first day we could have done better, but they sealed the game when they scored 700. Everyone knows, like, it is slightly tough chasing 700. But again, credit goes to their batters, how they batted. But again, there were a few phases we could have captured, but we hadn’t bowled that great,” he added.
Varma top-scored for South Zone with 99, narrowly missing out on a century. He was also named Player of the Series for his performances throughout the tournament.
With the final effectively slipping away after East Zone’s huge first-innings total, South Zone’s focus over the remaining days was to bat for as long as possible and keep alive the possibility of securing a draw.
“We were just thinking to just bat on for the next three days. We had tried our best. If we have played for three days, we never knew we could have scored 700 runs; otherwise the match would have been drawn,” Varma said.
“But we have tried our best, but again credit goes to them. They have totally outplayed us,” the South Zone captain added.
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