Tiwary stars in East's narrow victory

Manoj Tiwary's dream season continued as he stroked 89 to help East Zone scamper home by three runs against North Zone at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Chasing 239 under lights, Pankaj Dharmani and Dinesh Mongia's half centuries went in vain as North were restricted to 235 in their 50 overs.

It was a counter-attacking innings by Tiwary, who walked in with the score at 16 for 2. VRV Singh and Ishant Sharma, the North Zone seamers, made early inroads to reduce the opposition to 27 for 4. Tiwary and captain Deep Dasgupta led the rescue act with a stand of exactly 150 for the fifth wicket. Tiwary, who survived a chance at second slip early in his innings, went on the attack, striking seven fours and two sixes. Dasgupta made a steady 63 off 80 balls and played the supporting role to Tiwary. Singh finished with figures of 4 for 44.

Mongia, who top-scored with 71, led North's chase and dominated the fourth-wicket stand with Paras Dogra. However, a double strike by Abhishek Jhunjhunwala pulled things back for East Zone. Tiwary played his part with his legbreaks as well, picking up a wicket in a tight 10-over spell, conceding just 35 runs. Dharmani and Bipul Sharma upped the tempo towards the end but it wasn't enough to go the distance.