Central Zone posts second victory

Central Zone scored an easy four wicket victory over North Zone in the Vijay Hazare (under-16) Trophy tournament at the SJ Public School in Jaipur on Tuesday. It was Central Zone's second victory in three matches in the tournament.

Chasing a modest total of 161 set by North Zone, Central Zone were home in the 42nd over. Central Zone were in trouble initially against the North Zone opening bowler N Agarwal, who finished with three for 36.

Agarwal in fact rocked Central Zone by dismissing the first two batsmen with only 21 runs scored. But Ashraf Ali (33 runs of 60 balls) put on 41 runs off 6.5 overs with AS Naidu (21 runs of 19 balls) for the third wicket. Then S Dixit (30 runs of 56 balls) put on 54 runs in 12 overs for the fifth wicket with R Elahi (22 runs of 48 balls). Finally Afroz Khan with an unbeaten 32 off 48 balls with five fours made sure of Central Zone's victory with eight overs to spare

Earlier, North Zone were all out in 48.3 overs. Bhuvnesh Sharma, who came in at 36 for one in the eighth over, made the only significant contribution. He scored 50 off 111 balls with one boundary before he was eighth out at 148 in the 46th over. North Zone were dismissed in the 49th over with only three other batsmen reaching double figures.