Second successive victory for North Zone

Inspired by the presence of the re-instated Ajay Jadeja, North Zone raced to their second successive victory in the Deodhar Trophy tournament, defeating East Zone by seven wickets at the IPCL Sports Complex ground in Baroda on Saturday.

East Zone were a shadow of the side that defeated Central Zone on Wednesday. Put in to bat, they were dismissed for 166 off 44.5 overs. Opener SS Das (23) and Rohan Gavaskar (25) made brief contributions in the top order but it was only a fighting 53 by SS Raul which carried the East Zone score to modest proportions. There was only one notable partnership during the entire innings - 49 runs for the eighth wicket between Raul and Laxmi Ratan Shukla (18). Raul scored 53 off 72 balls with six hits to the ropes. But generally the batsmen found it difficult to get runs off Sarandeep Singh (3 for 41) and Amit Bhandari (3 for 15). Jadeja chipped in with two wickets for 38 runs.

A total of 166 could never pose many problems for North Zone. And predictably enough, they coasted to victory in 31.3 overs. Ashu Dani (27) and skipper Vikram Rathour (70) put on 45 runs for the first wicket off 8.5 overs. This was followed by a second wicket partnership of 45 runs between Rathour and Jadeja (13). And a third wicket stand of 48 runs between Rathour and Pankaj Dharmani (25 not out) took North Zone to the doorstep of victory. Rathour, who faced 89 balls hit nine fours and a six. Dharmani and Virender Shewag (16) then applied the finishing touches.