Guwahati: Ambati Rayudu guided West Zone to win the Deodhar Trophy by a margin of five wickets with 10 balls in hand against North Zone here on Wednesday.
After being asked to bowl first by North Zone, West were up to a tough task of chasing 290 in 50 overs but all credit goes to West Zone’s batsmen who came up with four brilliant half-centuries and displayed some good temperament to lead the race in final overs in Guwahati on Wednesday.
North Zone batted brilliantly to reach the score of 289 runs in their quota of 50 overs. South-paw Yuvraj Singh displayed some fine hitting skills and scored a magnificent half-century and to compliment him, rising star Unmukt Chand also played a crucial knock of 88 runs. Unmukt and Yuvraj added 120 runs for the third wicket partnership which steered North Zone to reach a respectable total of 289 for eight.
Unmukt's 88 came off 124 balls with seven fours and three mind-boggling sixes. However his innings was bit scratchy as he was dropped twice and wasn’t looking good in earlier part of his innings.
Yuvraj, however, was looking in much better touch as he hit 67 off 52 balls with seven fours and three sixes. The middle-order batsmen couldn't make any significant contribution but Parveez Rasool (32) and Manpreet Gony (25) added 44 runs in four overs to take the total close to 300.
North Zone captain Gautam Gambhir came up with Praveez Rasool to open the bowing and his Idea did click well as he got a wicket of Vijay Zol. However Parthiv and Juneja added 84 runs for the second wicket in 14 overs. While Parthiv and Juneja were busy finding the gaps every now and scoring boundaries, North Zone bowlers were left scratching their heads on how to break the partnership.
Both displayed some brilliant stroke-play in their innings. Parthiv hit eight fours and a six off a full-toss bowled by Yuvraj. Juneja also came into the party as he hit five fours --three off Manpreet Gony and two off Rasool. Parthiv was caught at mid-wicket off Amit Mishra's bowling but Juneja carried on take on Mishra for a huge six.
Amit Mishra gave away 63 in 12 overs while Gony was blasted for 52 in six overs. Jadhav and Rayudu (78) stole the match from North. The duo added 87 runs in 13.1 overs but more importantly found the fence with ease. Jadhav took his time to make himself comfortable but as they time passed by, he took the charge on the bowlers. Out of his eight boundaries, six were hit off pacers Gony and Parvinder Awana.
Scores:
North: Unmukt c Juneja b Unadkat 88, C. Madan c Parthiv b Nayar 17, G. Gambhir c Unadkat b Dhruv 9, Yuvraj lbw b Unadkat 67, Mandeep c (sub) b Munaf 6, R. Paliwal (run out) 17, A. Mishra (run out) 4, P. Rasool (run out) 32, M. Grewal (not out) 25, S. Kaul (not out) 0; Extras (lb-3, nb-2, w-14, penalty-5): 24; Total (for eight wkts. in 50 overs): 289.
Fall of wickets: 1-59, 2-72, 3-192, 4-199, 5-204, 6-224, 7-239, 8-283.
West bowling: Munaf 12-0-61-1, Unadkat 10-1-72-2, Dhruv 10-1-49-1, Nayar 7-0-28-1, Makvana 6-0-33-0, Yusuf 5-0-38-0.
West: V. Zol lbw b Rasool 12, Parthiv c Mandeep b Mishra 58, M. Juneja c & b Grewal 56, A. Rayudu (not out) 78, Yusuf c Unmukt b Kaul 6, K. Jadhav st. Madan b Mishra 57, A. Nayar (not out) 19; Extras (lb-3, nb-1, w-3): 7; Total (for five wkts. in 48.2 overs): 293.
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-111, 3-157, 4-175, 5-262.
North bowling: Rasool 10-1-50-1, Kaul 10-0-57-1, Yuvraj 3-0-18-0, Grewal 6-0-52-1, Mishra 12-0-63-2, Awana 4-0-32-0, Paliwal 2-0-7-0, Mandeep 1.2-0-11-0.
