North emerge champions
Cricket: Deodhar Trophy: Yusuf’s blistering 80 goes in vain
North Zone secured their 12th Deodhar Trophy, recording a 49-run win over West Zone here on Tuesday.
Asked to bat, North piled up a par for the course 267 for nine in the allotted 50 overs. West, tottering at 108 for six at one stage, looked poised for a remarkable win when Yusuf Pathan made a hurricane 80 off 39 balls, but the dismissal of elder Pathan sealed the match in favour of North. West were bundled out for 218 with 12 overs to spare.
However, West started on a rather confident note; left-arm pacer Jaidev Unadkat jettisoning Rahul Dewan with the score on 22. However, North recovered through Shikhar Dhawan (48, 60b, 6x4) and Uday Kaul (67, 83b, 5x4) as the duo realised 60 runs during their second-wicket partnership.
In reply, Ajinkya Rahane (46, 50b, 4x4, 2x6) and Cheteshwar Pujara (33) forged a good second-wicket partnership of 78 to help West regroup from a five for one.
The Yusuf hurricane hit North at that point and the Baroda man in the company of Mumbai’s Iqbal Abdulla milked 105 runs for the seventh-wicket alliance, raising the visions of an improbable West win. The right-hander struck three boundaries and nine sixes during his entertaining knock.
Just when it seemed that he will script a fairytale win, Yusuf gave Mukesh (5-59) a brave charge only to see stumper Kaul whipping the bails off in a flash, exiting the hopes of West.
SCOREBOARD
NORTH ZONE: Shikar Dhawan lbw Pathan 48, Rahul Dewan c Parthiv Patel b Unadkat 15, Uday Kaul st Parthiv Patel b Rohit Sharma 67, Virat Kohli c Munaf b Iqbal Abdulla 29, Mandeep Singh lbw Rohit Sharma 10, Paras Dogra c Iqbal Abdulla b Ravindra Jadeja 24, Rajat Bhatia c Unadkat b Ravindra Jadeja 20, Joginder Sharma b Yusuf Pathan 1, Mukesh Sharma (run out) 3, Bipul Sharma (not out) 12, Jaskaran Singh (not out) 25.
Extras (B-4, LB-3, W-4, NB-2)13. Total (for 9 wkts, 50 overs) 267.
Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-88, 3-155, 4-179, 5-180, 6-213, 7-223, 8-227, 9-232.
Bowling: Munaf Patel 6-1-21-0, Jaidev Unadkat 6-0-34-1, Jayesh Odedra 4-0-28-0, Yusuf Pathan 9-0-45-2, Jadeja 10-0-68-2, Iqbal Abdulla 9-0-37-1, Rohit Sharma 6-0-27-2.
WEST ZONE: Chirag Pathak lbw Joginder Sharma 3, Ajinkya Rahane lbw Mukesh Sharma 46, Cheteshwar Pujara b Mukesh Sharma 33, Parthiv Patel c Dhawan b Dewan 1, Rohit Sharma c Bhatia b Mukesh Sharma 8, Ravindra Jadeja c Kohli b Dewan 7, Yusuf Pathan st Kaul b Mukesh Sharma 80, Iqbal Abdulla c Dhawan b Dewan 28, Jaidev Unadkat lbw Mukesh Sharma 0, Jayesh Odedra (not out) 5, Munaf Patel c Dhawan b Dewan 0.
Extras (LB-1, W-6) 7. Total (all out; 38 overs) 218.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-83, 3-86, 4-87, 5-100, 6-108, 7-213, 8-213, 9-217.
Bowling: Joginder Sharma 5-1-16-1, Jaskaran Singh 8-0-57-0, Bhatia 3-0-29-0, Bipul Sharma 9-0-38-0, Mukesh Sharma 9-0-59-5, Rahul Dewan 4-0-18-4.
