Duleep Trophy 2022: Ajinkya Rahane Led West Zone Clinch Title

 Ajinkya Rahane's West Zone squad defeated Hanuma Vihari's South Zone by 294 runs to win the Duleep Trophy for the 19th time. At SNR College Cricket Ground in Coimbatore, the Rahane-led squad bowled out Vihari's team for 234 runs. West Zone is now the most successful team in the Duleep Trophy event, having won a record 19 championships. They were previously tied with North Zone for the most victories (18).

Batting first, the West Zone team set a target of 270 runs, with Het Patel and Unadkat hitting 98 and 47 runs, respectively. They were in trouble after losing early wickets until Shreyas Iyer and Sarfaraz Khan helped to steady the ship, and then Patel and Unadkat guided the side to a competitive score. Sai Kishore took five wickets for South Zone.

 South Zone batters Indrajith led the way with a 118-run effort. The players all contributed, but no one else scored more than fifty runs, and South Zone was bowled out for 327. Unadkat grabbed four wickets for West Zone.

In the second innings, the Rahane-led team played superb cricket. Jaiswal hit 265, while Sarfaraz also scored an undefeated 127. South Zone was most likely forced out of the contest at this point. South Zone kept losing wickets in the last innings, with 529 runs needed to win the championship.

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Rohan Kunnummal scored a courageous 93, and Ravi Teja also fought valiantly, but it was all too much for them. West Zone bowled South Zone out for 234 runs on the last day of the tournament.

                                                 PC@BCCI

West Zone won the match after making a comeback after falling down in the first innings. Notably, West Zone's Yashasvi Jaiswal was named Player of the Match, while his teammate Jaydev Unadkat was named Player of the Series.