Hanuma Vihari-led South Zone recorded a 75-run win against West Zone in the Final of the Duleep Trophy 2023 to win their 13th Duleep Trophy title (including one co-win in 2013/14 with North Zone).
Duleep Trophy 2023 Final: South Zone – 213; Hanuma Vihari 63 runs
Bengaluru hosted the Duleep Trophy 2023 Final, where West Zone chose to field first. In the first innings, South Zone were all out for 213 runs. Skipper Hanuma Vihari (63) and Tilak Verma (40) had vital roles for the Southern side to set up the 200+ total. Shams Mulani was the best bowler in that innings with the bowling figures of 8-2-29-3.
Duleep Trophy 2023 Final: West Zone – 146; Vidwath Kaverappa managed seven-fer
However, West Zone had a harder time in their first innings, as their 146 all out strongly shifted the game towards the South Zone. Only the opener Prithvi Shaw (65) and Harvik Desai (21) reached the 20-run mark, while the right-arm pacer Vidwath Kaverappa had the destructive bowling figures of 19-5-53-7.
Duleep Trophy 2023 Final: South Zone – 230; Hanuma Vihari 42 runs; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja’s fifer
Leading by 67 runs at the end of the first innings battle, South Zone scored 230 runs to set up the 298 runs target for West Zone in the fourth innings. Captain Vihari once again scored the highest runs for his team (42), while the opener Mayank Agarwal (35), Ricky Bhui (37) and Washington Sundar (37) had major contributions along with other cameos.
In that third innings of the match, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja claimed a five-wicket haul as the West Zone bowler had the bowling figures of 22.1-6-40-5.
Duleep Trophy 2023 Final: Target – 298 runs; West Zone – 222; Priyank Panchal 95 runs; Vasuki Koushik and Sai Kishore four-wicket hauls
Though the skipper and opener Priyank Panchal battled hard with 95 runs, only Sarfaraz Khan (48) was the other West Zone batter to cross the 15-run mark in the fourth innings as they were bowled out for 222 runs.
In that fourth innings, both Vasuki Koushik (4/36) and Sai Kishore (4/57) bagged four wickets each to secure South Zone’s victory in the Duleep Trophy 2023 Final.
South Zone win Duleep Trophy 2023; Vidwath Kaverappa was the best player
After their shared win in 2013/14 with North Zone, it was the first Duleep Trophy success for South Zone. Their previous Duleep Trophy Final win was recorded in the 2010/11 season.
For his incredible bowling in the West Zone’s first innings, Vidwath Kaverappa (7/53 & 1/51) of South Zone won the Player of the Match award in the Duleep Trophy 2023 Final. He also won the Player of the Tournament award for finishing as the second most wicket-taker in the tournament with 15 wickets.
