East Zone piled up a colossal first-innings total of 708, riding on skipper Ishan Kishan's double century, before bundling out South Zone for 325 and eventually secured their third Duleep Trophy crown on the basis of a massive first-innings lead.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The result ended South Zone's bid for back-to-back Duleep Trophy titles, while East Zone lifted the prestigious silverware for the first time since the 2012\/13 season. \"Honestly, it is disappointing for us, but there have been a lot of learnings in this game, and hopefully we'll come back stronger.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cIf you have seen, honestly, the first day we could have done better, but they sealed the game when they scored 700. Everyone knows, like, it is slightly tough chasing 700. But again, credit goes to their batters, how they batted. But again, there were a few phases we could have captured, but we hadn't bowled that great,\" said Varma, who made 99 in South Zone\u2019s lone innings with the bat, in the post-match presentation ceremony.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The result ended South Zone's bid for back-to-back Duleep Trophy titles, while East Zone lifted the prestigious silverware for the first time since the 2012\/13 season. \"Honestly, it is disappointing for us, but there have been a lot of learnings in this game, and hopefully we'll come back stronger.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"But honestly, we were just thinking to just bat on for the next three days. We had tried our best. If we have played for three days, we never knew we could have scored 700 runs; otherwise the match would have been drawn. But we have tried our best, but again credit goes to them. They have totally outplayed us,\" added Varma, who also took the Player of the Series award.<\/p>\r\n\r\n