Cuttack: Defending champions East Zone, led by Odisha opening batsman Natraj Behera, retained the Duleep Trophy by virtue of a 43-run first innings lead against Central Zone in the final match, which ended in a draw at Chennai today.

Bengal left-arm spinner Iresh Saxena and part-time leg-break bowler Anustup Majumdar shared nine wickets amongst themselves to help East Zone won their second successive Duleep Trophy title. In reply to a modest first innings total of 232 by East Zone, Central Zone folded up for 189, losing their last six wickets for 42 runs.

East Zone batsman Ishank Jaggi was adjudged the man of the match for scoring an unbeaten century. Odisha medium pacer Alok Mangarj made his Duleep Trophy debut in this match. Biplab Samantaray and Basant Mohanty were other two Odisha players to play the final for the East Zone team.

SCORECARD

East Zone (1st innings): D Jadhav lbw S Saxena 25, Natraj Behera c B Kumar b Saxena 22, A Majumdar c Saxena b B Kumar 13, I Jaggi (not out) 100; I Saxena b J Saxena 16, S Tiwary c Rawat b Kartik 0, Biplab Samantaray c Kartik b S Saxena 0, S Gautam c Rawat b P Kumar 34, Basant Mohanty c Rawat b Pandey 2, A Dinda b Pandey 0, Alok Mangaraj b J Saxena 3; Extras (b-5, lb-5, w-1, nb-6) 17

Total (all out, 101.5 overs) 232

Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-55, 3-64, 4-113, 5-116, 6-117, 7-174, 8-190, 9-190, 10-232

Bowing: P Kumar 21-8-41-1, B Kumar 13-5-37-1, I Pandey 19-7-59-2, Jajal Saxena 28.5-6-62-5, M Kartik 20-10-23-1.

Central Zone (1st innings): Tanmay Srivastava c Jaggi b Iresh 94, Vineet Saxena c Mohanty b Iresh 22, Mohammad Kaif lbw b Iresh 2, Robin Bist c Jadhav b Mohanty 2, Ashok Menaria c Behera b Iresh 8, Mahesh Rawat c S.P. Gautam b Majumdar 24, Jalaj Saxena c Tiwary b Iresh 7, Bhuvneshwar Kumar lbw b Majumdar 0, Praveen Kumar c Iresh b Majumdar 1, Murali Kartik c Tiwary b Majumdar 17, Ishwar Pandey (not out) 3; Extras (b-1, w-1,nb-7) 9

Total (all out; 83.5 overs) 189

Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-74, 3-76, 4-97, 5-147, 6-164, 7-165, 8-167, 9-178, 10-189

Bowling: Ashok Dinda 17-5-42-0, Basant Mohanty 16-5-29-1, Iresh Saxena 25-6-58-5, Alok Mangaraj 10-5-10-0, Biplab Samantray 6-2-12-0, Natraj Behera 2-0-8-0, Anustup Majumdar 7.5-0-29-4.

East Zone (2nd innings): Dheeraj Jadhav (not out) 2, SP Gautam (not out) 4; Extras (w-2) 2

Total (no loss, 5 overs) 8

Bowling: Praveen Kumar 3-1-5-0, Jalaj Saxena 2-0-3-0.