Tilak Varma’s Duleep Trophy dream run ends at 99, but Test goal remains

Chennai: Tilak Varma was finally dismissed in this year’s Duleep Trophy, falling agonisingly short of a second century. Despite being dismissed for 99, the South Zone captain’s red-ball ambitions stay intact, even though his team is staring at a big loss against East at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.Tilak, who had scored a century and a half-century in South Zone’s semifinal win against North Zone without being dismissed, battled through the Chennai heat on Wednesday against a quality East Zone attack. He was the last man to fall, giving a return catch to off-spinner Kounain Quraishi, as South were eventually bowled out for 336, conceding a massive 372-run first-innings lead.East, opting to bat again rather than send their bowlers back out, were 212-5 at stumps on Day Four, stretching their lead to 584.For Tilak, however, the larger picture remained clear. The 23-year-old left-hander has made no secret about his desire to play Test cricket for India.“I always say to everyone that I want to play red-ball cricket for India, that’s my biggest goal. As a kid, I thought I would play Test cricket first and then white-ball cricket. Red-ball cricket has always been my favourite, it’s my ‘A’ game,” Tilak said.“Over the last five-six years, I have played a lot of white-ball cricket and become good at it. Red-ball cricket is still my favourite, but I am comfortable with both now,” said Tilak.Tilak resumed the day on 56 and immediately took the attack to Mohammed Shami (2-42), striking two boundaries in the opening over. He and Chama Milind took 44 runs from the nine overs of Shami and Mukesh Kumar’s (3-62) combined first spell, putting them under pressure.Shami conceded 25 in his first four overs after giving away only 17 in 11 overs on Day 3.Kishan breaks 16-year-old recordEast’s second innings saw Ishan Kishan continue his first-innings form with 80 off 98 balls, while Shikhar Mohan (52) also remained among the runs.Ishan Kishan amassed 350 runs across both innings of the Duleep Trophy final, surpassing Dinesh Karthik’s aggregate of 333 runs from the 2010 final to set a new record for the most runs in the tournament final.Brief scores: East Zone 708 & 212-5 (I Kishan 80, S Mohan 52; Md Siraj 1-17) vs South Zone 336 (T Varma 99; M Kumar 3-62, Md Shami 2-42, M Quraishi 2-99).Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.