South Zone have done the double in the 2023-24 domestic season as after winning the Duleep Trophy, the Mayank Agarwal-led side overcame a Riyan Parag special in the final of the Deodhar Trophy to win the title by 45 runs. Riyan Parag, who was adjudged the player of the tournament for scoring 354 runs in five matches at a whopping average of 88.5 waged a lone battle with a 65-ball 95 for East Zone but ran out of partners following a 105-run partnership with wicketkeeper Kumar Kushagra.
East Zone got off to a terrible start losing three wickets in the first five overs chasing a mountain of 329 runs. Captain Saurabh Tiwary and Sudip Gharami steadied the ship with a 60-run stand for the fourth wicket. However, the required run rate was on a constant rise before Parag arrived at the crease in the 17th over. Gharami scored 41 before getting dismissed to Sai Kishore as the innings was going nowhere for East Zone before Parag started to show what he had been doing the whole tournament.
Parag found an able ally in Kushagra as they kept the momentum scoring 105 runs in just 13 overs. It seemed like Parag and Kushagra will take East Zone closer to the target but it wasn't to be as the Assam batter was dismissed by Washington Sundar on 95.
Kushagra too soon departed four overs later as the duo of Vijaykumar Vyshak and Vidwath Kaverappa cleaned up the tail to complete formalities. While Parag was adjudged the player of the series, South Zone opener Rohan Kunnumal was named the player of the match for his 75-ball 107 as he stitched a 181-run opening stand with skipper Mayank Agarwal.
The duo all but killed the game with their stand as those many runs came in just 25 overs. Apart from those two, wicketkeeper N Jagadeesan was the chief contributor with a half-century as South Zone posted a huge score of 328 runs, which proved to be enough in the end as they won their 9th Deodhar Trophy title.
