Duleep Trophy: Ishan Kishan hits 270, second highest final score

Ishan Kishan scored 270 runs in the Duleep Trophy final, showcasing patience and aggression, solidifying his status as a first-class cricketer.

Kolkata: There are innings that announce themselves, and then there are innings that quietly alter the conversation around a player. Ishan Kishan’s 270—second highest score in a Duleep Trophy final—for East Zone against South Zone at Chepauk on Monday belonged to the latter category.

East Zone captain Ishan Kishan celebrates reaching 250 on Day 2 of the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Monday. (PTI)

On a hot, humid Chennai afternoon, with the pitch neither offering extravagant movement nor easy pace on Day 2 of the five-day match, Kishan did something that has increasingly become unfashionable in the age of instant cricket—he stayed, and then stayed some more. Till he had carved out an innings to remember, with partner Kumar Kushagra helping himself to a hundred as well.

By the time he reached 250, Kishan had faced 300 balls, his innings containing 27 fours and seven sixes. It was an extraordinary combination of accumulation and aggression, sort of performance that demanded both patience and a willingness to exploit scoring opportunities. Most importantly, it was a statement of intent. East were 708 all out when stumps was called.

Deep Dive

What was the significance of Ishan Kishan's 270 runs in the Duleep Trophy final?

How did Ishan Kishan approach his innings during the Duleep Trophy final?

Why did Ishan Kishan retire hurt during his innings?

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The 28-year-old East skipper has never needed reminding that he can hit a cricket ball. His white-ball credentials have long been obvious. The more interesting question has been whether he wants, and is prepared, to do the less glamorous work required in first-class cricket—leaving the ball, absorbing pressure, batting through fatigue and building an innings in layers. At the MA Chidambaram Stadium, he supplied emphatic answers.

His first 150 came off 204 balls (19x4, 1x6). It was an innings built largely on control rather than spectacle. With the South attack made to bowl long spells in oppressive conditions, Kishan resisted the temptation to manufacture shots. He defended when the ball demanded it and scored when bowlers strayed. Then came the acceleration.

He moved from 150 to 200 in 66 balls, adding boundaries as he began to use his feet against the spinners. Leg spinner Shreyas Gopal, who had already bowled a demanding spell, was repeatedly challenged down the ground. Off-spinner Tripurana Vijay was driven, swept and lofted. Kishan was no longer simply seeing off the bowling. He was manipulating the deliveries.

The most revealing aspect of the innings was the way he dealt with spin. Rather than allowing the bowlers to dictate the tempo, Kishan repeatedly came down the pitch, got to the pitch of the ball and hit through the line. A six over cow corner, another launched over long-off, and a series of drives through the off side showed that he had worked out where the danger lay, and where the runs were.

There was a physical cost. By the second session, Kishan was visibly feeling the effects of the long stay. He stretched his hamstring, occasionally refused singles and, after being struck painfully while attempting a pull, needed attention from the physio. Even then the innings retained its peculiar rhythm—defend, wait, attack.

His final assault was almost playful. Three sixes arrived in the space of a handful of overs as Kishan used his feet against Vijay and Gopal, clearing the front leg and finding the boundary with remarkable authority. At 250, he raised his bat and absorbed the applause, soon deciding to retire hurt.

He returned and a triple hundred was in sight, but Kishan was superbly caught by R Smaran at long on. Kishan missed out on that deserved milestone but for a player whose future has often been discussed through the prism of limited-overs cricket, the significance of this innings lies less in the number itself than in the manner of its construction.

Chepauk demanded patience before it rewarded aggression, and Kishan embraced the challenge. In Chennai’s heat, Kishan did not merely score 270, he made a remarkably persuasive case for why he should be judged as a first-class cricketer again.

For the record, he has a first-class top score of 273.

Brief scores: East Zone 708 all out (A Easwaran 72, S Mohan 85, I Kishan 270, K Kushagra 101, T Vijay 4/180, C Milind 2/88, S Gopal 2/165) v South Zone