Ishan Kishan led from the front with a sprightly unbeaten 111 (135b, 14×4, 1×6) as East Zone amassed 385 for four against South Zone on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy final at the MAC Stadium here on Sunday.
And in the first 90 minutes of the day, the youngster kept the fans on their feet through some elegant strokeplay. The 15-year-old got on his toes nicely to counter the bounce from the red-soil pitch and punched South Zone pacers Mohammed Siraj and M.D. Milind for 44. Kishan kept busy without trying to be aggressive, bringing up his half-century off 71 deliveries.
Abhimanyu Easwaran gets run out in the Duleep Trophy final between South Zone and East Zone. | Photo Credit: R. RAGU It is not often that you see packed stands for a domestic game in India. Nideesh to the off-side fence a few times. And when Siraj went full, Sooryavanshi had no second thoughts about lofting down the ground for a six and a four. The southpaw eventually holed out on the leg-side trying to pull C.V. Shikhar was largely untroubled, confidently driving Siraj for back-to-back boundaries through the off-side before launching off-spinner T. Vijay for a six and two boundaries off consecutive deliveries. In the final session, he pressed on the accelerator and brought up his century in style, driving Shreyas Gopal down the ground majestically.
Yet, even before the first ball was bowled, the C, D, and E stands at Chepauk were nearly full in anticipation of seeing the wunderkind.
