East Zone win on better run rate, qualify for final

East Zone were on their way to a comfortable victory over Combined XI when the rain came down, ruling out any further play. East Zone were thus declared winners on better run rate in the group A match of the inter-academy cricket tournament for the Col Hemu Adhikari Trophy in Bangalore on Friday. East Zone were all out for 301 in 49.5 overs and the Combined team were 215 for four off 47.3 overs when rain stopped play at 4.04 pm. Play was called off at 4.45 pm. With their second successive victory in the group (they had beaten South Zone on Thursday), East Zone qualified for the final, in which they will meet West Zone on Monday.

A splendid 109 by opening batsman and wicketkeeper R Jaiswal was the highlight of the game. Electing to bat, East Zone were given a good start with Jaiswal and S Biswal (53) adding 124 runs for the second wicket off 22 overs. Jaiswal who faced 116 balls hit eleven fours and was sixth out at 239. Valuable contributions in the middle order from skipper M Diwakar (37) and R Banik (30) helped East Zone to top the 300-run mark.

Far from being overawed by the imposing total, Combined XI openers SM Dholpure (60) and HTS Rao (46) put on 107 runs off 22.4 overs. Then after three wickets had gone down for 124, Ajith Singh (30) and Sushil Kumar (44 not out) added 54 runs for the fourth wicket off 13.3 overs. By this time, Combined XI had fallen behind on the required run rate and the match was virtually decided when rain halted play.