da betsson： West Zone comfortably defeated holders Central Zone by five wickets inthe final round game of the Deodhar Trophy tournament at the Wankhedestadium on Monday
Partab Ramchand31-Jan-2000West Zone comfortably defeated holders Central Zone by five wickets inthe final round game of the Deodhar Trophy tournament at the Wankhedestadium on Monday. The result lifted West Zone to a record of twovictories and two losses, the same as South Zone and East Zone. Thedefeat also pushed Central into the last position in the five teamround robin with one win and three losses.Central Zone were never really in with a chance after being restrictedto 207 for eight in 50 overs. Put in to bat, Central were rocked earlyby Zakir Khan who dismissed both the openers Gagan Khoda and JyotiYadav with only 24 runs on the board. The Central innings was putback on course by a third wicket partnership of 46 runs off 9.5 oversbetween Jai P Yadav (31) and Amay Khurasia (22). But the dismissals ofboth the batsmen in the space of three balls was a double blow whichCentral Zone could ill afford.Sanjay Bangar (24) and D Bundela then initiated another recoveryprocess by adding 42 runs for the fifth wicket off 12.2 overs. Therally was continued by Bundela and Abbas Ali (19) who put on 49 runsfor the sixth wicket off 12.5 overs. Bundela carried on gamely andremained unbeaten with 78 off 112 balls with six hits to theropes. But there was always a doubt whether a total of 207 for eightin 50 overs could pose a serious challenge for the strong West Zonebatting lineup.Openers Sitanshu Kotak (45) and Cecil Williams (28) put West Zone oncourse with a partnership of 53 runs off 13.2 overs. Bundela thenfollowed up his good knock by dismissing Vinod Kambli for 23 and AmolMuzumdar for eight. With West Zone 102 for three in the 25th over,there seemed some glimmer of hope for Central Zone. But the obdurateKotak was still there and he and Abhijit Kale took the score to 141before the Saurashtra left hander played a lofted drive off Jai Yadavand gave Jyoti Yadav a catch. Skipper Nayan Mongia did not last longbut the in form Kale was unstoppable. He and A Dani set the seal onWest Zone’s supremacy with an unbroken partnership of 42 runs for thesixth wicket. Kale remained unconquered on 68 off 76 balls with sevenhits to the ropes as victory was achieved with three overs to spare.