'Aap dekh rahe ho naa Sai Baba' - Fans react as South Zone defeats West Zone by 75 runs to clinch Duleep Trophy 2023 title

South Zone defeated West Zone in the Duleep Trophy 2023 final by a margin of 75 runs to win the tournament. Notably, it is the 14^th time that the South Zone has won the Duleep Trophy title in domestic cricket. Both teams played this final clash of the tournament at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

The fans were also elated following the win of South Zone against the star-studded West Zone, including the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Suryakumar Yadav, and Sarfaraz Khan. A section of the Indian cricket fans took to Twitter and hailed Hanuma Vihari-led South Zone for outplaying the mighty West Zone side in the title clash.

Here’s how fans reacted:

Even South Zone has a trophy but RCB🤣🤣

— GOAT (@smudge_GOAT) July 16, 2023

So the big star team lost..... Big names just can't win...

— Aditya 🇮🇳 (@Mr_nobody2328) July 16, 2023

That's why Dosa and IDLI SAMBHAR >>>>> VADAPAV and PAV BHAJI

More Healthy and Less Oily.

— KhabriBhai (@RealKhabriBhai) July 16, 2023

West Zone couldn't win even with big names such as Prithvi shaw , surya , sarfaraz and pujara awesome performance by south zone

— Shubham rajput (@_shubh_says) July 16, 2023

Remember the name vidvath Kaverappa

— vk fan (@viratkohli1817k) July 16, 2023

Hyderabad goat showed levels to chumbai player's

— GOAT MAHI (@MSDADDICTED) July 16, 2023

Good Captaincy by Washington 👏👏

— Jeevan ✨ (@JeevanWAK) July 16, 2023

Hanuman Vihari Can be a very good Indian Captain,of gets opportunities

— Sourish Joshi (@sourish_03) July 16, 2023

Power of South India

— bavuma (@Nagasai26533823) July 16, 2023

Frauds, pujara, surya , sarfaraz exposed.

Should keep them away from test format

— Vicky (@V_k_s__) July 16, 2023

Speaking of the action of the match, the visitors West Zone won the toss and asked Hanuma Vihari’s men to bat first. Batting first, South Zone posted a total of 213 runs courtesy of skipper Hanuma Vihari’s 63-run knock alongside young batter Tilak Varma’s 40-run knock. Arzan Nagwaswalla, Chintan Gaja, and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja scalped two wickets each for West Zone in the first innings. Additionally, Atit Seth and Shams Mulani also claimed one and three wickets, respectively.

Later, batting in response to South Zone’s 213 runs, West Zone completely surrendered to the heroics of Vidwath Kaverappa, who claimed a 7-wicket haul in the first innings. Other than him, Vasuki Koushik and Vijaykumar Vyshak claimed one and two wickets, respectively.

Furthermore, starting their second innings with a lead of 67 runs, South Zone posted a total of 230 runs to post a target of 298 runs for West Zone. Skipper Hanuma Vihari once again scored 42 runs to help his side to a good total.

While chasing the target of 298 runs, West Zone got bundled up on the score of 222 runs and lost the match by a margin of 75 runs. Vidwath Kaverappa scalped won the ‘Player of the Match' award for his heroic performance and also won the 'Player of the Series' award.