Day 3 Live: Tilak, Devdutt in focus as South chase mammoth 1st innings total

NewsSportsCricketDay 3 Live: Tilak, Devdutt in focus as South chase mammoth 1st innings totalDuleep Trophy FinalDuleep Trophy Live, East vs South Final Day 3: Tailak Varma's South Zone were finally able to bowl out East Zone at the end of Day 2. Ishan Kishan's side put up a mammoth first innings total of 708 runs after batting for 2 straight days. Tilak Varma and Devdutt Padikkal will be in focus as South try to chase the first innings total down....Read MoreDuleep Trophy Final Live East Zone vs South Zone Day 3. (PTI Photo) Hello and welcome to India Today's live coverage of the Duleep Trophy final. East Zone are playing South Zone in the summit clash, and we are ready to bring you the live updates on Day 3. Sep 8, 2026 09:29 ISTDuleep Trophy: What to expect from Day 3The match is set to resume. WV Raman and Chetan Sharma are doing the pitch report. Both think that this is going to be a flat batting track. The only reprieve for the spinners is perhaps that right at the centre of the track - at good length - the ball is keeping a bit low. Which could trouble the batters. But make no mistake, this continues to remain a flat batting track. Will South Zone be able to capitalise? Sep 8, 2026 09:20 ISTDuleep Trophy Live: When does the match resume?Action resumes at 9:30am IST. Narayan Jagadeesan and Ricky Bhui will open the innings for South Zone. Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar are expected to start with the new ball. Sep 8, 2026 09:04 ISTDuleep Trophy Final: How has the pitch behaved?The Duleep Trophy pitch has been underwhelming. A track that was expected to offer bounce and seam in the morning and then turn later, has turned into a flat batting track. The ball gripped and turned slightly in the final session of Day 2, and hopefully it will break further today, bringing the spinners into play. Sep 8, 2026 08:39 ISTDuleep Trophy Live: Poor captaincy from Tilak VarmaWhile the brilliance of the East Zone batters must be acknowledged, we need to talk about Tilak Varma's captaincy in the Duleep Trophy. Tilak continually put up defensive fields in both days of the final, allowing the East batters to settle down. Varma needs to undo the damage with his bat today. Sep 8, 2026 08:31 ISTDuleep Trophy: How did East Zone manage 708!East Zone put up a fantastic batting display from the very start of the final. Abhimanyu Easwaran and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi added 100 runs for the opening partnership, and from there it was a landslide. Ishan Kishan came out to bat in the final session of Day 1, and dominated the proceedings. His partnership with Kumar Kushagra (101) was key in East Zone putting up a a mammoth total. Apart from Ishan Kishan (270) and Kushagra (101), Shikhar Mohan (85), Easwaran (72) scored their fifties in the first innings. Sep 8, 2026 08:12 ISTDuleep Trophy Final: Day 3 Live updatesWe are still about one and a half hours away from the restart. But we are starting early because this is the moving day of the summit clash. Ishan Kishan dominated the proceedings in the final, hitting a mammoth 270-run knock, his first red-ball double hundred. India Today's Saurabh Kumar wrote about the batter, and argued that Kishan, in all probability, should be back in the Indian Test squad. Do you agree? Sep 8, 2026 08:08 ISTDuleep Trophy Final LiveHello and good morning to you all. It is Day 3 of the Duleep Trophy final and we are excited to bring you the live updates from the game. East Zone have dominated the contest in the first two days and have amassed a massive total of 708 runs. Tilak Varma's South Zone now have the difficult task of chasing the first innings total down. If South fail to do so, and the match is drawn, then East Zone will be crowned champion of the Duleep Trophy 2026.