East Zone's 708 shows why a six-decade-old Indian domestic rule is increasingly out of step with modern cricket

That season produced the first Duleep Trophy final decided by a first-innings lead. South Zone scored 470 in 172 overs, West Zone replied with 402 and, although the four-day match finished in a draw, South took the trophy because of their 68-run first-innings advantage. Remarkably, the same method then decided each of the next two Duleep Trophy finals.

An earlier final demonstrates why a mechanism like this once had considerable logic. In 1963-64, South Zone batted exactly 163 overs — coincidentally the same number East have just used at Chepauk — to make only 331. West Zone were merely 47 without loss when the four-day match ended; there was no completed first-innings comparison, and the trophy was shared.

This was a very different cricketing age, when scoring rates were considerably slower and drawn first-class matches were far more natural outcomes. Some method of separating teams in a knockout competition was necessary, but a sensible solution from one era can become a damaging incentive in another.

Had an outright victory been the only route to the trophy, there would have been a serious debate around 550 or 600 over whether Kishan should declare and back his bowlers. Under the present system, continuing until South finally dismissed them was the safer championship strategy. That is where the rule becomes problematic. A tiebreaker should separate two teams after they have tried and failed to produce a winner; it should not influence them towards a particular type of draw from the first innings itself.

That feels increasingly disconnected from the direction red-ball cricket has taken. Batters score faster, captains are more aggressive with declarations and modern teams are increasingly conditioned to pursue results, yet a major Indian domestic final can still reward a strategy that reduces the time available to achieve one. Cricket has spent two decades teaching batters to score faster. The Duleep Trophy has just demonstrated how a regulation can make even 700 runs feel insufficient.

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No system can eliminate every problem, especially when the weather intervenes. The guiding principle, however, should be that a fallback rule encourages the cricket a competition wants teams to play rather than making conservatism the safest route to a title. East Zone should not be blamed for reaching 708 without declaring. Kishan's 270, Kumar Kushagra's century and the rest of their batting effort were outstanding, and a captain's responsibility is to maximise his team's chances under the regulations available to him.

That is what makes 708 all out such an effective indictment of the rule. East Zone did not exploit it; they demonstrated exactly what it encourages. A provision created for an age of frequent draws now needs reconsideration in an era increasingly geared towards forcing results, because winning the match — not merely winning the first innings — should remain the ultimate objective of a five-day final.

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