Indore: East Zone won their maiden Duleep Trophy title by beating Central Zone by an innings and 20 runs at the Holkar stadium here on Tuesday.
Having a first-innings lead of 237, East Zone bowlers gave no respite to the opponent’s batsmen as the pace duo of Ashok Dinda (3/94) and Mohammed Shami Ahmed (4/50) dented Central Zone’s batting line-up which end at 217 for nine. Vineet Saxena was nursing a finger injury and didn't come out to bat.
The Central batsmen showed no spine to save the match as they failed to stay on the wicket for long. Jajal Saxena, who went off to a flying start with eight fours and a six, fell off to a Dinda’s ball for 46, giving a catch to Basant Mohanty in the deep, while Mohammad Kaif could add only nine runs to his team’s score. Naman Ojha (36) too nicked a Shami’s delivery and Wriddhiman Saha made no mistake to grab the ball behid the stumps.
Thereafter there was no looking back for East as they got wickets at regular intervals. Mohnish Mishra (44), Robin Bist (20) and Parvinder Singh (6) were back to the pavilion in quick succession an at 146 for five, the match was as good as over.
Brief scores: Central 133 & 217/9 (Mohammed Shami Ahmed 4/50, Ashok Dinda 3/94).
East Zone 370. East won by an innings & 20 runs.