South Zone’s Kaverappa, Vyshak derail West in Duleep Trophy final
In 45 minutes of play on either side of tea on Day 2, South Zone’s young pacers Vidwath Kaverappa and Vijaykumar Vyshak, both from Karnataka, wrecked West Zone’s famed batting line-up by picking up four wickets. After another rain-affected day of the Duleep Trophy final in Bengaluru where only 53.4 overs were bowled, West are on 129/7, trailing South by 84 runs.
South Zone bowlers Vidhwath Kaverappa and Vyshak Vijayakumar(PTI)
Things didn’t go south for the visiting team in the first half of Thursday. West quickly ended South’s innings and, at 101/2, were on course for a healthy reply led by Prithvi Shaw’s fluent half-century. Just when it looked like Shaw was winning the battle of attrition, willing to bide time against South’s disciplined bowling, captain Hanuma Vihari resorted to short-ball tactics through Vyshak.
His ego challenged, Shaw took the bait. After being hurried into a pull down fine-leg, the Mumbai batter attempted to scoop one over third-man but the lack of zip in Vyshak’s bouncer had him caught in the deep on 65.
Vyshak continued to bend his back and almost got Suryakumar Yadav caught first ball on the deep-square-leg boundary. Yadav didn’t last long, falling to Kaverappa who produced a sharp incoming ball that roared off the surface and, unable to keep it down, the batter was caught at first slip when he was on eight.
After tea, Kaverappa sent back the prolific Sarfaraz Khan for no score with an inswinger, one to which he was beaten on the back foot. In desperation, Khan sought a review only to fall to the umpire’s call.
It was down to Cheteshwar Pujara to do the rebuilding. The experienced batter didn’t look in any discomfort against Vyshak’s round-the-wicket short-ball barrage. But it was clearly a day, where if Vyshak didn’t get you, Kaverappa would.
Pujara fell to Kaverappa’s leg-side trap, flicking one straight down to leg-gully and West were reduced to 123/6.
At the 2023 IPL auction, Vyshak and Kaverappa were picked by Royal Challengers Bangalore and Punjab Kings respectively. Vyshak put in some impressive spells; Kaverappa is waiting for his IPL debut. Here in the Duleep Trophy, it was Kaverappa, the man from Coorg, who stole the show with 15-5-44-4 while Vyshak (12-0-29-2) played the support cast.
The fast-bowling duo’s combined showings augurs well for Karnataka and, in the immediate context, South Zone.
