Second successive win for East Zone

East Zone, helped by a fine unbeaten 112 by PJ Das, defeated South Zone by six wickets in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (under-16) tournament at the KL Saini Stadium in Jaipur on Tuesday. This was East Zone's second successive victory in the competition.

Replying to South Zone's total of 253 for eight in 50 overs, East made a disastrous start losing both the openers with only eight runs scored. But a 165-run third wicket partnership off 28.2 overs between Das and S Paul (70) steered them out of trouble. While Paul faced 95 balls and hit six fours, Das faced 120 balls and hit eleven fours and a six. Das and A Nandi (20) then took East Zone close to the target with a fourth wicket stand of 49 runs off 9.4 overs. East finally coasted home with 5.2 overs to spare. This was South Zone's second straight defeat in two days.

Earlier, DS Chougule who scored 107, helped South Zone to post a challenging total. Chougule scored his runs off 111 balls with the help of 11 boundaries. He was concerned in two fruitful partnerships. With opener AT Rayudu (50 off 89 balls with two fours) he added 100 runs for the second wicket off 21.3 overs. Then with A Srikkanth (36 off 45 balls with two fours and a six), Chougule put on 63 runs for the fourth wicket off 12 overs.