Deodhar Trophy: South Zone beat North East by nine-wicket to top points table; West, East also clinch wins

Puducherry: South Zone brought forth their all-round prowess to brush aside North East Zone by nine wickets in their Deodhar Trophy match here on Friday.

The South Zone bowlers, led by Vidwath Kaverappa and R Sai Kishore, bundled out NE Zone for a feeble 136 after the latter elected to bat first.

South had little trouble in overhauling the target in just 19.3 overs as opener Rohan Kunnummal made an unbeaten fifty (87, 58 balls, 8x4, 5x6).

The victory also saw South consolidating their position on top of the table with 12 points, and a superior net run rate (NRR) too helped their cause.

In this match, South paired Vidwath with Arjun Tendulkar, who came in for Vasuki Koushik.

The left-arm pacer Arjun made an immediate impact, dismissing opener Anup Ahlawat. With Vidwath and Sai Kishore too joining the list, North East found themselves at a rocky 31 for 3.

North East Zone failed to stitch together any meaningful partnership in their innings except a 30-run alliance for the fourth wicket between captain M Langlonyamba and K Priyojit.

Priyojit was the top-scorer for NE Zone with a 40 that he made off 104 balls.

Pacer Vidwath and left-arm spinner Sai Kishore were the most successful bowlers for South, taking six wickets equally among themselves.

Vidwath, now, has 12 wickets from three matches and leads the wicket-takers’ chart. Sai Kishore closely tails him with 10 wickets.

The gulf in class between the two sides was evident once Rohan and Mayank Agarwal mounted the chase.

Rohan, the 25-year-old opener from Kerala, was quick to assert himself and peppered the cover and point regions with delectable shots.

Rohan’s power was also on view as he cleared long-on and long-off fences five times. Rohan’s fifty was his fifth in List A matches.

The South opening pair went for quick runs keeping in mind the NRR, and added 95 runs in 15.4 overs.

The dismissal of Agarwal, who was trapped leg before by Imliwati Lemtur for 32 was a minor stumbling block.

Brief scores: North East Zone 136 all out in 49.2 overs (K Priyojot 40; Vidwath Kaverappa 3/27, R Sai Kishore 3/22) lost to South Zone: 136/1 in 19.3 overs (Rohan Kunnummal 87 n.o, Mayank Agarwal 32) by 9 wickets.

Riyan Parag helps East Zone beat North Zone 

Riyan Parag dished out an all-round show to help East Zone hand a crushing 88-run loss to North Zone in the Deodhar Trophy on Friday.

Parag first struck a whirlwind 131 from 102 balls (5x4, 11x6) in a 235-run sixth wicket partnership with Kumar Kushagra (98 off 87b, 8x4, 4x6) to power East Zone to a huge 337 for eight in 50 overs after they opted to bat. In the second half of the game, Parag returned to grab 10-1-57-4 with his leg spin to cap an impressive all-round show.

He was well-supported by left arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed (3/41) as North Zone were bowled out for 249 in 45.3 overs. Mandeep Singh (50) was the top-scorer for North Zone, as several others failed to convert their starts.

East Zone have won each of their three matches to collect 12 points, and are second to South Zone on net run rate.

Earlier, Harshit Rana (3/54) struck twice in successive overs, while Mayank Yadav (4/63) too made life tough for East Zone batters to reduce them to 57/5 inside 16 overs.

Parag then paired up with wicketkeeper-batter Kushagra to rescue the team in their entertaining partnership.

Kushagra however missed out on a deserving century by just two runs, while Parag also followed suit with Yadav picking both the wickets in three balls.

Manisankar Murasingh then struck a couple of fours and a six in a 14-ball 25 to lift the total past 300-mark.

Shahbaz also produced a quickfire seven-ball 16 not out (2x4, 1x6) to lift the total.

In reply, North Zone lost Prabhsimran Singh (11) early.

But they had Abhishek Sharma (44), Himanshu Rana (40), Nitish Rana (27) and Shubham Rohilla (41) getting starts but none of them could carry on.

Parag was the wrecker-in-chief as he accounted for Rana, Mandeep and Rohilla among the specialist batters while also dismissing No 10 Sandeep Sharma (0).

Akash Deep, Mukhtar Hussain and Utkarsh Singh claimed one wicket apiece.

Brief Scores: East Zone 337/8; 50 overs (Riyan Parag 131, Kumar Kushagra 98; Mayank Yadav 4/63, Harshit Rana 3/54) beat North Zone 249; 45.3 overs (Mandeep Singh 50; Riyan Parag 4/57, Shahbaz Ahmed 3/41) by 88 runs.

West Zone edge out Central Zone by 1 wicket

Atit Sheth made a brilliantly-timed fifty as West Zone remained in the race to the Deodhar Trophy final with an edgy one-wicket win over Central Zone on Friday.

Sheth (53 not out, 53b, 4x4, 2x6) and Rajvardhan Hangargekar (24, 12 balls, 1x4, 2x6) pulled West Zone out of woods with a quick 39-run stand for the ninth wicket while chasing Central’s competitive 243 for 7.

West now have eight points from three matches with two games remaining, but they need to win them to stay on course for a final berth.

The top two teams on the table will progress to the final. South Zone and East Zone are the current occupants of the first and second place respectively with 12 points each.

But before all the drama unfolded, West were in a rather comfortable position after openers Harvik Desai (57, 86 balls, 8x4, 2x6) and captain Priyank Panchal (36) carried them to 77 for no loss.

However, UP off-spinner Shivam Chaudhary (4/18) brought Central back into the game with quick strikes along with leg-spinner Karn Sharma (2/66).

West slipped to 138 for 6 in the 33rd over. But from that point Sheth handled the West chase with aplomb.

The right-hander first made 41 runs with Shams Mulani for the seventh wicket, and then followed that with an explosive ninth wicket stand of 39 runs in four overs that reshaped the match.

Earlier, Central Zone put a handy total on the board despite none of their batsmen making a fifty.

Yash Dubey (49, 81 balls, 4x4), skipper Venkatesh Iyer (43, 45 balls, 4x4, 1x6), Karn Sharma (44, 46 balls, 6x4, 1x6) and Shivam Mavi (47, 39 balls, 3x4, 3x6) led Central’s charge.

The highlight of the innings was a 50-run alliance between Karn and Mavi that came in a little over six overs, saving Central from a wobbly 150 for 6 in the 38th over.

The partnership carried them past 200 but failed to fetch a victory for them on the day.

Brief Scores:

Central Zone: 243/7 in 50 overs (Yash Dubey 49, Venkatesh Iyer 43, Karn Sharma, 44, Shivam Mavi 47; Shams Mulani 2/42) lost to West Zone: 244/9 in 49.4 overs (Harvik Desai 57, Atit Sheth 53 not out; Shivam Chaudhary 4/18) by 1 wicket.