Duleep Trophy final | South Zone beats West Zone by 75 runs to clinch title

South Zone clinch Duleep Trophy title for 14th time after defeating West Zone by 75 runs. Sai Kishore and Vasuki Koushik share 7 wickets for South. Vidwath Kaverappa adjudged man of match. Priyank Panchal's sole fight kept West in the hunt

South Zone applied finishing touches to their superiority across the last four days, defeating West Zone by 75 runs to clinch the Duleep Trophy in Bengaluru on Sunday (July 16).

Chasing 298 to win, West Zone, overnight 182/5, were bowled out for 222. Left-arm spinner Sai Kishore and pacer Vasuki Koushik were the pick of the bowlers for South Zone, sharing seven wickets among them.

This was South's 14th title win in the Duleep Trophy, and they will also count this as a sweet revenge. In the 2022 final, West had beaten South by 294 runs.

Priyank Panchal, who started the day on 92, was the biggest stumbling block in South's march to the title, and he could add only three runs this morning.

Panchal edged pacer Vidwath Kaverappa, who was later adjudged man of the match, to Ricky Bhui behind the stumps as West slipped to 189 for 6. Vidwath took the ball away from Panchal and the latter dangled his bat outside with fatal results.

The dismissal also ended their realistic chances of turning the match around.

There were moments of artificial excitement. Atit Sheth and Dharmendra Jadeja, who has a history of turning it on against South teams, added 23 runs for the eighth wicket.