West Zone complete hat-trick with super show

A clinical all-round performance took West Zone to their third successive Deodhar Trophy as they registered a comprehensive 133-run win over North Zone in the final here on Thursday.

Riding on Kedar Devdhar’s 94 and skipper Cheteshwar Pujara’s patient half-century, West posted a challenging 281 for three in 50 overs.

Spinners Arpit Vasavada (3/20) and Akshar Patel (2/23) were the pick of the bowlers as they bundled out North Zone for 148 in 37.1 overs at the YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium here.

North never got the partnerships they required to overhaul the target, with the best being a 48-run effort between Nitin Saini (32) and Gautam Gambhir (13) for the opening wicket.

Mandeep Singh (37) was the highest run-scorer for the Harbhajan Singh-led side as wickets continued to fall at regular intervals.

Earlier, opener Devdhar, put on a 144-run stand with skipper Cheteshwar Pujara (75) to build a strong foundation after Parthiv Patel (13) departed early.

Late cameos from Yusuf Pathan (32 n.o.) and Ambati Rayudu (46 n.o.) propelled West past the 280-run mark, allowing them to dictate terms.

score board

WEST ZONE: Kedar Devdhar lbw Nehra 94, Parthiv Patel c Paliwal b Dhawan 13, Cheteshwar Pujera b Dhawan 75, Ambati Rayudu (not out) 46, Yusuf Pathan (not out) 32. Extras (B-4, LB-6, W-11) 21. Total (for three wkts, 50 overs) 283.
Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-181, 3-214.

Bowling: Ashish Nehra 10-2-49-1, Siddarth Kaul 7-0-56-0, Ishant Sharma 10-0-52-0, Rishi Dhawan 11-1-46-2, Harbhajan Singh 7-0-36-0, Parvez Rasool 5-0-32-0.

NORTH ZONE: Nitin Saini c Pathan b Kulkarni 32, Gautam Gambhir b Bumrah 11, Mandeep Singh st Patel b Vasavada 37, Rajat Paliwal c Patel b Unadkat 1, Parvez Rasool (run out) 6, Gurkeerat Singh b Akshar 4, Rishi Dhawan c Partiv b Akshar 7, Harbhajan Singh (run out) 14, Ashish Nehra b Vasavada 18, Ishant Sharma c Pathan b Vasavada 8, Siddarth Kaul (not out) 0. Extras (LB-2, W-8) 10. Total (all out, 37.1 overs) 148.

Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-60, 3-66, 4-84, 5-98, 6-100, 7-110, 8-127, 9-147.
Bowling: Jaydev Unadkat 8-0-40-1, Jasprit Bumrah 7-0-31-1, Dhawal Kulkarni 8-0-32-1, Akshar Patel 8-0-23-2, Aarpit Vasavada 6.1-0-20-3.