Kolkata: The fifth day of the Duleep Trophy final had long since ceased to resemble a contest by the time Ishan Kishan and Mohammed Shami found themselves at different crossroads of their careers. East Zone ended 760 runs ahead, the pitch having already surrendered any pretence of menace and the result effectively beyond doubt. Yet the game offered something more consequential than a trophy: a glimpse of two Indian cricketers using the domestic first-class stage to make the same argument — that red-ball cricket still matters to them.
Having already established a first-innings lead of 372, East Zone were 388 for 7 when Kishan finally called time. South Zone’s players, who had spent most of the afternoon waiting for the inevitable, shook hands with their opponents. East had won the Duleep Trophy for the first time in 13 years, on the strength of that first-innings advantage.
Kishan had already scored 270 in the first innings, an innings of 334 balls and 522 minutes that demanded a patience rarely associated with his white-ball reputation. He followed it with 80 in the second innings, finishing the match with 350 runs and the Player of the Match award. His tournament was even more emphatic: 409 runs in five innings at an average of 102.25. More importantly, he extended his unbeaten run as a captain in first-class cricket to 16 matches.
For Kishan, this was not merely about numbers. It was about what he described as a transformation. “It was more about, you know, just being more calm after the break,” he said, referring to the period in which he was out of the India reckoning, at the presentation ceremony. “Being more into the game, knowing what’s important, how aware you are towards the game and how you are reading the situation.”
Kishan spoke of becoming calmer, more aware and hungrier, and of wanting to ensure that teammates did not slip into the “zone” he had himself experienced. “You need to take care of each other,” he said.
The red-ball version of Kishan is therefore not simply a batter trying to add another dimension to his game, but attempting to reconstruct his relationship with cricket. Kishan’s 270 suggested that the patience required for first-class cricket is becoming less an obligation and more a part of his identity.
Shami’s position was different, almost the mirror image. At 36, and with a long international career behind him, he does not need the Duleep Trophy to prove anything. But his performance in the final was a reminder that red-ball cricket remains a craft he refuses to abandon. After figures of 0 for 140 in the first innings, he returned with greater pace and movement in the second, finishing with 1 for 47 from 16 overs on a surface that offered very little.
“I always try to learn,” Shami said. There was no complaint about the Chepauk pitch, despite its low bounce and limited assistance. Instead, he spoke about holding his line and length, trying to create wickets from there and making use of reverse swing when the conditions allowed it. “If you want to take it positively, you can take it from this ground. If you want to take it positively, you can take it from any ground,” he said. “If you are not motivated at this level, then I don’t think your approach is right.”
That is the distinction between the two men. Kishan is trying to convince Indian cricket that he belongs in its red-ball future; Shami is demonstrating that a player who has already travelled much of that road can still find reasons to keep walking it. Their motivations converge in domestic cricket, with the Duleep Trophy win coming as a clincher.
East Zone’s title was built not only around Kishan but around evidence of a healthier future. Kumar Kushagra’s hundred in the first innings was another marker of a young wicketkeeper-batter beginning to convert promise into substantial first-class output. Kounain Quraishi was an even fresher revelation. The Jharkhand all-rounder, making his first-class debut during the tournament, produced his maiden century in the second innings, finishing unbeaten on 116.
His 150-run seventh-wicket partnership with Anukul Roy turned what could have been a routine declaration into another opportunity for a youngster to demonstrate temperament. Then there was Shikhar Mohan, whose 85 on his Duleep Trophy debut added another name to the Jharkhand production line. East Zone’s 13-year wait is over, but the bigger significance of their victory may lie in what it revealed about the region’s next generation.
Brief scores: East Zone 708 (I Kishan 270, K Kushagra 101, T Vijay 4/180) and 388 for 7d (M Quraishi 116*, I Kishan 80, M Nidheesh 2/28) drew with South Zone 336. East Zone won on first-innings lead.
