![]() The first match of Duleep Trophy, 1973-74 was played between the teams of South Zone and East Zone and the match was held at Madras from 17-19 November, 1973. The captain of South Zone, S Venkataraghavan won the toss and decided to bat first in the match. The South Zone batsmen could not give much support to their captain's decision, as they got all out to a mere score of only 183 runs in their first innings. The two East Zone bowlers like D Doshi and A Shukla bowled brilliantly and took 4 wickets, each in South Zone's first innings. However, only M Abdul Hai showed some resistance on behalf of South Zone in the first innings, as he played a knock of 76 runs, the highest for South Zone in the innings. Though, the bowlers gave the team a solid start in the match, the East Zone batsmen failed to capitalise on the good start and failed to bat well in their first innings. They could score only 155 runs, before getting all out in the first innings. S Mukherjee became the top scorer for East Zone in the first innings with 40 runs, while Abid Ali and B Chandrasekhar took 3 wickets, each for South Zone. Leading by 28 runs in the first innings, the South Zone team played much better in the second innings and got a good total of 302 runs. B Patel became the top scorer for his team by scoring 95 runs and M Abdul Hai gave him good support with an individual score of 93 runs. A Shukla once again took 4 wickets for East Zone in South Zone's second innings. The East Zone team thus needed 331 runs in the second innings to win the match, though they could not get that due to shortage of time. The stipulated duration of the match got over, when the East Zone team reached the score of 171-3 in the second innings and as a result, the match ended on a draw. The South Zone team was declared as the winner of the match for having a lead in the first innings and the team also entered into the Semi-Finals of Duleep Trophy, 1973-74, by winning the match. The South Zone team played against Central Zone in the first Semi-Final of Duleep Trophy, 1973-74 and the match took place at Madras from 24-26 November, 1973. Winning the toss, the South Zone skipper, S Venkataraghavan invited the Central Zone team to bat first in the match. His decision was well supported by his bowlers, as they became successful to restrict Central Zone's first innings to a small score of only 155 runs. Venkataraghavan himself led his bowlers from the front and took 3 wickets for 45 runs. L Singh became the top scorer for Central Zone with 64 runs, while all the other batsmen failed to apply themselves on the crease. While batting in their first innings, the South Zone batsmen showed a miserable performance. They scored only 115 runs for seven wickets, before the match ended due to some unavoidable reasons. The match officials declared the Central Zone team as the winner of the match, on toss of a coin and also allowed it to enter into the Final of Duleep Trophy, 1973-74. ![]() The North Zone and Central Zone teams played against each other in the Final of Duleep Trophy, 1973-74 and the match was held at Bombay from 07-10 December, 1973. The toss of the match was won by the North Zone captain, B Bedi and he took the decision of batting first in the match. The decision looked to be a right one, as the North Zone batsmen played well and got a good score of 270 runs on the scoreboard in their first innings. Madan Lal became the top scorer for his team with 69 runs and V Sunderam and S Amarnath also got their individual half centuries. The Central Zone batsmen faced a lot of troubles while replying to the first innings total of 270 runs of North Zone and they could score only 154 runs, before getting all out in their first innings. S Benjamin was the top scorer for Central Zone with 68 runs. Having a good lead of 116 runs in the first innings, the North Zone team failed to play well and got all out for only 162 runs in their second innings. Thus, the Central Zone team required 279 runs in the second innings to win the match. However, they failed to achieve the target and got all out for a score of 202 runs in their second innings. Thus, the North Zone team won the match with a good margin of 76 runs and also clinched the championship title in the Duleep Trophy, 1973-74. |