Easy victory for East Zone in Inter-Academy final

Expectations of a keen final were belied as East Zone romped to an eight wicket victory over West Zone to win the Col. Hemu Adhikari Trophy for the Inter-Academy title at the RSI grounds in Bangalore on Monday.

Electing to bat, West Zone were shot out for 101 in 35 overs. They were given a good start with openers S Kukreja (21) and P Valthaty (47) putting on 65 runs off only 10.3 overs. The in-form Valthaty dominated the stand and before he was first out, he had faced just 36 balls and hit nine fours.

After Valthaty's fall, little went right for West Zone who actually lost ten wickets for 36 runs off 24.4 overs. Apart from the openers, only R Solanki (11) reached double figures. Four batsmen failed to score and N Behera brought the innings to a swift end by taking four wickets for 15 off eight overs. T Saha gave a helping hand with two for 10 off seven overs. Three run outs compounded West Zone's misery.

East Zone did not experience any difficulty in reaching their modest target. Openers A Garai (14) and R Jaiswal put on 58 runs off 11.5 overs and the objective was achieved in just 21.5 overs. Jaiswal remained unbeaten with 60, compiled off 74 balls with seven hits to the ropes. Both wickets to fall were taken by skipper Uday Karavadra.