GUWAHATI, March 12 � Young Vijoy Zole and his senior partner Yusuf Pathan along with Kedar Jadhav swung the match in their way with some lusty batting display as West Zone stormed their way to the final of the Deodhar Trophy Tournament with a 5-wicket victory against South Zone.
On a perfect batting track at the Nehru Stadium here today, being asked to bat first, South Zone managed to build a challenging total of 258 in 50 overs losing 8 wickets.
After a shaky start, West finally came good midway through their innings and smashed the winning runs in the 41.1 overs.
South Zone also had some trouble at the initial stage losing 2 wickets with the scoreboard reading 38. But gradually they took grip on the wicket as it dried up.
Stuart Binny top scored with a 54-ball 65 while Sachin Baby added 58 off 68 balls. They contributed 87 for the 6th wicket which was most vital for their team. Skipper Dinesh Karthik was other notable contributor with 45.
Leading pacers of the country Munaf Patel, Joydeep Unakat and Abhishek Nayar, playing for West, were not perfect in their lines and gave away about 50 runs each. Their spinners were also not that much effective as West batsmen did not have to toil much against them.
However, losing 2 quick wickets, including skipper Parthiv Patel, at the team�s total of 26, West were in trouble. But opener Zole, who scored 450 against Assam in a U-19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy match for Maharashtra last year, built up two solid partnerships with Ambati Rayudu (35-ball 31) for the 3rd wicket and Yusuf Pathan (53-ball 68, 8x8, 2x6) for the 4th wicket which resulted in 71 and 66 run partnerships respectively. These two partnerships virtually repaired the early damage and later Pathan stitched another crucial partnership with Keder Jadhav (44-ball 56, 8x4) to add 58 runs for the 5th wicket which took their side to the safe shores. South pacers R Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun chipped in 2 wickets each and Binny got 1.
Zole was adjudged man-of-the-match for match winning batting show. His 75 came off 88 deliveries with 11 fours and 1 six.
SCORECARD
South Zone: KL Rahul b MM Patel 10, GH Vihari b Nayar 23, B Aparajith c Dhurv b Unadkat 6, KD Karthik lbw b Makvana 45, CM Gautam c Makvana b Nayar 14, Sachin Baby st PA Patel b Dhurv 58, STR Binny run out (Pathan) 65, R Vinay Kumar c Makvana b MM Patel 4, A Mithun not out 5. Extras: (b 1, lb 5, w 21, nb 1) 28. Total: (8 wickets; 50 overs) 258. Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-38, 3-61, 4-98, 5-143, 6-230, 7-245, 8-258. Bowling: MM Patel 10-1-48-2, JD Unadkat 12-1-49-1, AM Nayar 7-0-49-2, RV Dhurv 10-0-47-1, KR Makvana 10-1-55-1, YK Pathan 1-0-4-0.
West Zone: VH Zol c Aparajith b Vinay Kumar 75, PA Patel c Binny b Mithun 14, MC Juneja lbw b Vinay Kumar 1, AT Rayudu c Gautam b Sudhakar 31, YK Pathan c Aparajith b Mithun 68, KM Jadhav not out 56, AM Nayar not out 10. Extras: (lb 2, w 2) 4. Total: (5 wickets; 41.1 overs) 259. Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-26, 3-97, 4-163, 5-221. Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 8-1-50-2, A Mithun 8-0-45-2, B Aparajith 5.1-0-32-0, S Sandeep Warrier 6-0-38-0, STR Binny 3-0-14-0, B Sudhakar 10-0-76-1, Sachin Baby 1-0-2-0.
Final today: North Zone will lock horns with West Zone in the summit clash of the Prof Deodhar Trophy Tournament at the Nehru Stadium here tomorrow. It will be a rematch of last years final between the two star-studded teams of the country.
Stars like Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Unmukt Chand, Amit Mishra, Parvinder Awana for North, Yusuf Pathan, Parthiv Patel, Ambati Rayudu, Vijoy Zole, Munaf Patel, Abhishek Nayar for West will be seen in action.
The final will start at 8.30 am.
