Parthiv fifty takes West to finals

West Zone 247 (Parthiv 90, Aaron 5-47) beat East Zone 156 (Samantray 51, Unadkat 3-14) by 91 runs
Scorecard

Parthiv Patel's 90 was the stand-out performance for West Zone as they dominated East Zone and notched up a 91-run victory in the Deodhar Trophy semi-final at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. After the top order had laid a solid foundation, West Zone's middle and lower order collapsed, and they were all out for 247. It proved more than enough, though, as their seamers Jaidev Unadkat and Ishwar Choudhary took three wickets each and helped bowl East Zone out for 156.

After choosing to bat, West Zone were given the ideal start by Parthiv and Wasim Jaffer, who put together a 91-run partnership in 16.4 overs. Jaffer's dismissal brought in Cheteshwar Pujara, who played second fiddle to Parthiv, scoring 49 off 81 balls. West Zone had reached 203 for 2 in 41.3 overs, when Varun Aaron, who is developing a reputation as one of the quickest bowlers in the country, dismissed Rohit Sharma for 10. Aaron went on to pick up four more wickets, as West Zone lost their last eight for 44.

Whatever momentum East Zone might have taken from that lower order collapse, was robbed from them very quickly by Unadkat and Choudhary, who ran through the top order, reducing East Zone to 55 for 5. Manoj Tiwary and Biplab Samantray put on 49 for the sixth wicket, but when Tiwary lofted left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla straight to long-off, East were staring down the barrel. Samantray went on to get 51, and was the last man to fall, bowled by Choudhary in the 42nd over.