Electing to bat, East Zone posted a challenging total of 274 for 5 in the stipulated 50 overs. In reply, South Zone were all out for 251 in 48.3 overs.

Dravid was the lone bright spot for South Zone in their defeat as the middle-order batsman, who came to the crease after the fall of opener Dinesh Kaarthick (3), made 139 off 138 balls with the help of 13 boundaries and a six.

Dravid and Arjun Yadav (42) held the innings together for some time with a 83-run stand between them after South Zone struggled at 89 for three. But Yadav’s dismissal proved too costly as rest of the South Zone batsmen fell cheaply to leave Dravid helpless.

The other blow for South Zone was VVS Laxman’s finger injury which prevented the Hyderabadi from coming out to bat. Laxman was injured while fielding. For East Zone, Paceman Dhiraj Goswami was the pick of the bowlers who accounted for three batsmen after giving away 42 runs, while Ranadeb Bose chipped in with two wickets.

Earlier, skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla’s (73) scintillating half-century powered East Zone past the 270 mark. Shukla hit five sixes in his 66-ball knock and stitched a 101-run partnership with S Tiwary (73) for the fifth wicket.

Prasanta Saha contributed a quick 21 lower down the order and helped build an unbeaten 58-run sixth-wicket partnership with his skipper. R Vinay Kumar was the most successful bowler for South Zone claiming three wickets.

SCORE BOARD

EAST ZONE: Arindam Das (run out) 32, Sourav Ganguly (run out) 1, Anustup Majumdar c Uthappa b Vinay 16, Manoj Tiwary c Laxman b Vinay 40, Saurabh Tiwary c Ojha b Vinay 73, Laxmi Ratan Shukla (not out) 72, Wriddhiman Saha (not out) 21. Extras (LB-1, W-15, NB-3) 19. Total (for 5 wkts, 50 overs) 274.

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-28, 3-98, 4-125, 5-226.

Bowling: S Sreesanth 10-1-61-0, R Vinay Kumar 10-0-69-3, Saurabh Bandekar 9-0-49-0, Pragyan Ojha 10-0-37-0, C Raghu 9-0-45-0, S Badrinath 2-0-12-0.

SOUTH ZONE: Dinesh Ka-arthick c Saha b Goswami 3, Robin Uthappa c A Das b Bose 16, Rahul Dravid c Ganguly b Goswami 139, S Badrinath b Ganguly 20, Arjun Yadav c Shukla b Goswami 42, C Raghu (run out) 7, R Vinay Kumar b Bose 18, Saurabh Bandekar (not out) 2, S Sreesanth (run out) 0, Pragyan Ojha (run out) 0, VVS Laxman (absent hurt). Extras (LB-1, W-3) 4. Total (all out, 48.3 overs) 251.

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-36, 3-89, 4-172, 5-191, 6-243, 7-249, 8-249, 9-251.
Bowling: Ranadeb Bose 9.3-0-40-2, Dhiraj Goswami 9-0-42-3, Sourav Ganguly 10-0-42-1, Laxmi Ratan Shukla 6-0-39-0, Iresh Saxena 7-0-38-0, Priyankar Mukherjee 3-0-19-0, Manoj Tiwary 4-0-30-0.