South Zone's rearguard, built around Tilak Varma's unbeaten fifty on Day 3, fell just short of turning into something bigger on the fourth morning in Chennai. Varma pushed his overnight 56 all the way to 99 before holing out in a caught-and-bowled to Md Kounain Quraishi, and South Zone were bowled out for 336 soon after — a first-innings deficit of 372, comfortably past the 200-run follow-on threshold. Captain Ishan Kishan chose not to enforce it, sending East Zone back out to bat instead, and by stumps they had extended the overall lead to a commanding 584 runs.
Varma's dismissal one run short of what would have been a defiant century summed up South Zone's day — resistance, but not enough of it. East Zone's bowling attack shared the remaining wickets around: Mukesh Kumar led the way with 3 for 62, while Mohammed Shami took 2 for 42, Mohan added 2 for 67, and Md Kounain Quraishi finished with 2 for 99 — Quraishi accounting for Varma's wicket himself, after East Zone's own marathon 163-over first-innings shift a day earlier.
Analysis: the reasoning behind the decision hasn't been spelt out publicly, but with a lead well beyond the follow-on mark and two full days still to play, batting again rather than sending South Zone straight back in is a common captaincy choice on a used pitch — it builds an insurmountable target-side lead while sparing an attack that had just bowled 163 overs to take the first innings from having to come straight back out with minimal rest.
East Zone's second innings did not start smoothly — openers Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Abhimanyu Easwaran both fell for single figures, out for 8 and 3 respectively. But the middle order took over from there: Mohan made 52 off 85 balls, and Ishan Kishan, fresh off his first-innings 270, added a further quickfire 80 off 98 balls with 9 fours and 3 sixes. Kumar Kushagra was unbeaten on 34 at the close, with Quraishi not out on 26 at the other end.
East Zone closed Day 4 at 212 for 5 in their second innings, a lead of 584 with five second-innings wickets still in hand and a full final day to work with. Under the Duleep Trophy's first-innings-lead rule, East Zone are already guaranteed the title even if the match ends in a draw, having secured the first-innings lead on Day 4 morning. The only remaining questions for Day 5 are whether East Zone can force an outright win, and whether South Zone — needing to bat out the day twice over — can salvage anything beyond a formality.
What this Day 4 does confirm is the pattern that has run through the whole final: East Zone's title charge has been carried by players either uncapped or on the fringes of India's senior XI — Kishan's first-innings 270, Kushagra's first-innings century, and now another substantial contribution from Kishan in the second innings. South Zone's resistance has run through a similar list, with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's record-breaking run in the semi-final and Varma's twin fifty-plus scores in the final itself. A domestic final built almost entirely around players jostling for national selection is exactly the kind of showcase the tournament is designed to produce.
Day 5 play from Chennai is covered on SportGod's live matches page, with more domestic cricket coverage on SportGod's blog and fantasy contests running in SportGod's free games.
Day 4 scores, bowling figures and the first-innings-lead rule are verified against same-day match coverage from Chennai, current as of September 9, 2026.
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