|
The five zonal teams that played against each other in the Duleep Trophy, 1963-64 were named as the Central Zone, East Zone, North Zone, South Zone and West Zone. It was the third edition of the Duleep Trophy and the West Zone team played in the tournament after winning the first two editions. The other teams were quite determined of having a good show in the tournament and they also had the aim of winning the championship title. The Duleep Trophy is well known as one of the most popular domestic cricket tournaments in India. A large number of talented players have been recognised so far, after playing wonderfully in this tournament. The tournament has also been instrumental in presenting world class players for the Indian national cricket team.
The first match of the Duleep Trophy, 1963-64 was played between the teams of East Zone and Central Zone and the two teams played the match at Calcutta from 07-09 December, 1963. The East Zone captain, P Roy won the toss and decided to bat first in the match. The decision was proved to be absolutely right, as the East Zone team scored a huge total of 430 runs in its first innings. The famous batsman, P Poddar was the star for East Zone in the first innings, as he played a wonderful century knock of 104 runs. The other batsmen like S Mitra and A Roy also contributed well in East Zone's mammoth first innings total. The Central Zone team also batted well while replying to the 430 runs, made by East Zone in the first innings and scored 321 runs in their first innings. The batsmen like H Singh, D Deshpande and S Singh were the premium contributors to the team's first innings total, as all of them made individual half centuries. The East Zone bowler, A Bhattacharjee took 5 wickets for 105 runs. In their second innings, the East Zone batsmen played well once again and scored 167 runs for 5wickets, before the stipulated period of the match was over. The match remained a drawn one during the specified period of time and the match officials declared the East Zone as the winner for having a lead in the first innings. The East Zone team also entered into the Semi-Finals of the Duleep Trophy, 1963-64 by winning this match.
The first Semi-Final match of Duleep Trophy, 1963-64 saw the teams of West Zone and East Zone playing against each other at Bombay from 14-16 December, 1963. After winning the toss, the West Zone skipper, C Borde invited the East Zone team to bat first in the match. He wanted his bowlers to put on a huge pressure on the East Zone batsmen. His aim was fulfilled, as East Zone got all out to a small total of only 119 runs in the first innings. None of the East Zone batsmen could play well in the innings and B Gupte and C Borde took 3 wickets, each in the innings, for West Zone. The West Zone batsmen played wonderfully in their first innings, while replying to the small total of 119 runs by East Zone. The two premium batsmen for West Zone, N Contractor and S Gaekwad made most of the contribution to the West Zone first innings. While Contractor scored 144 runs, Gaekwad played a superb innings of 138 runs. West Zone eventually declared their first innings on 331-4, after attaining a huge lead of 212 runs over East Zone. Though the East Zone batsmen showed a better performance in the second innings, it was not enough to save their team and they eventually got all out to only 189 runs. Thus, the West Zone team earned a comprehensive victory of an innings and 23 runs over East Zone and also reached the Final of Duleep Trophy, 1963-64.
The teams of North Zone and South Zone played against each other in the second Semi-Final of Duleep Trophy, 1963-64 and the match was held at Delhi from 23-25 December, 1963. The North Zone team batted first in the match, after their captain, Nawab of Pataudi won the toss and decided so. The North Zone team got a moderate score of 285 runs in their first innings, thanks to a wonderful century knock by Nawab of Pataudi. He played a superb knock of 141 runs in the innings and helped his team get the good total in the first innings. B Chandrasekhar bowled well in the innings and took 5 wickets for 78 runs on behalf of South Zone. In reply of the 285 runs made by North Zone in the first innings, the South Zone batsmen played moderately well and scored 297 runs in their first innings. V Subramanya and A Milkha Singh were the star batsmen for South Zone with individual scores of 120 and 71 runs, respectively. Then, the North Zone team scored 207 runs in their second innings, before the end of the play. The team got all out while scoring the runs, however, as the stipulated duration of the match was over, the match officials declared the South Zone team on the basis of its first innings lead. South Zone was also allowed to play against West Zone in the Final of Duleep Trophy, 1963-64.
It was the consecutive third time in the Duleep Trophy that the teams of West Zone and South Zone played against each other in the Final. The Final of Duleep Trophy, 1963-64 was held at Delhi from 27-29 December, 1963. The South Zone team was quite determined to win the championship title, as it lost to West Zone in the previous two Finals. The South Zone captain, M Jaisimha won the toss and took the decision of batting first in the match. His decision was a perfect one, as the South Zone batsmen played wonderfully and scored a good total of 331 runs in the first innings. A Milkha Singh and P Belliappa made the most of the contributions to the teams first innings with individual scores of 95 and 72, respectively. R Desai took 5 wickets for 63 runs for West Zone in the first innings of South Zone. In their first innings, the West Zone team scored 47 runs without losing any wicket at stumps on the second day. As there was no play in the third day of the match, the match officials decided to declare both the West Zone and South Zone teams as the joint winner of the Duleep Trophy, 1963-64.
|
