New Delhi : East Zone has become the winning team of Duleep Trophy 2026, but the story of this title is very interesting. The 5-day final match between East Zone and South Zone at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai ended in a draw. Despite this, East Zone was declared champion under BCCI's first-class knockout rules. East Zone scored a huge score of 708 runs in the first innings, with captain Ishan Kishan playing a brilliant inning of 270 runs. In reply, the entire South Zone team was all out for 336 runs and East Zone got a huge lead of 372 runs in the first innings itself.

After this, there was a turn in the match which perhaps no one had expected. East Zone decided to bat again instead of allowing South Zone to follow on and added 388 runs by the second session of the fifth day. In this way his total lead increased to more than 700 runs. Despite this, Ishan Kishan did not declare the innings. Time kept running out and finally South Zone captain Tilak Verma thought it better to end the match on a draw by joining hands with East Zone. In such a situation, the match was a draw, but East Zone's lead in the first innings had already decided the title.

Actually, according to BCCI rules, if the match is drawn in the final or knockout match of the first-class tournament, then the team scoring more runs in the first innings is declared the winner. East Zone had scored 708 runs in the first innings, while South Zone could score only 336 runs. On the basis of this lead of 372 runs, East Zone was declared the champion of Duleep Trophy 2026. That is, East Zone did not defeat South Zone in the final, but due to rules, won the trophy without winning the match. The most interesting thing was that East Zone had a chance to win the match, but even in case of a draw, due to the title being in their name, the team maintained its strong position instead of taking risks and ultimately became the champion.