East Zone captain Manoj Tiwary's decision to bat first was a bold one. After all, West Zone had completed a record chase in Monday's semifinal. Tiwary banked on his bowlers to defend whatever he and the other batsmen posted on the board.
In the end, East's total of 269/8 was just about enough as, despite Maharashtra's Kedar Jadhav's punishing 97 (91 balls, 8x4, 3x6), West fell 24 runs short in the final at the Wankhede on Wednesday to hand East their fifth Deodhar Trophy title.
Jadhav, who made his lone ODI appearance in the fifth and final ODI against Sri Lanka in Ranchi last month, played a knock that should see him in the 30 World Cup probables, to be announced on Thursday. But Ashok Dinda, with figures of 4/33, also reminded the selectors that he is not to be neglected.
The Bengal speedster gave quick his side breakthroughs with a brilliant opening spell — 6-0-22-3 — in which he reduced the defending champions to 37/3 in 10.3 overs. His wickets included Ambati Rayudu (16). However, Jadhav had other plans. He grew in stature with his Maharashtra teammate Ankit Bawne (28), with the duo sharing 74 runs for the fourth wicket. After making a quiet start, Jadhav began playing his strokes. Even as the asking rate climbed over six, Jadhav kept West on track. He was even let off on 68 by Kumar Deobrat off off-spinner Saurashish Lahiri. Jadhav played the senior's role to perfection and there was no need for Yadav to play his shots hurriedly. Yadav was content to play the supporting role in their fifth-wicket partnership worth 84 off 89 balls.
Jadhav fell in the last over of the batting powerplay (40th), those five overs yielding only 22 runs. His wicket brought the big-hitting Yusuf Pathan to the crease. However, Pathan was run out for three, bringing Akshar Patel to join Yadav.
From here, it was a see-saw contest. East thought they were back in the hunt with West needing 66 off 47 balls. But Patel picked up three fours in the 43rd over bowled by Biplab Samantray. But he fell when West needed 40 off 30 balls. No. 9 Shardul Thakur slammed a six and a four before falling to a Veer Pratap Singh full toss, making the equation 29 off 26 balls with two wickets in hand. The only hope for West was Yadav, who was kept quiet. It was an unusual innings from the top-order batsman who made 35 off 55 balls without any boundary. When he drove Dinda straight to covers to be ninth out with West needing 27 more to get, East began celebrating.
Earlier, East posted a challenging total thanks to Tiwary (75, 92 balls, 3x4, 4x6), 16-year-old Virat Singh (54, 84 balls, 6x4) and Samantray's attacking 60 (50 balls, 7x4, 1x6).
guru.krishnan@dnaindia.net
Brief Scores: East Zone 269/8 in 50 overs (V Singh 54, M Tiwary 75, S Tiwary 29, B Samantray 60; D Kulkarni 2/35, D Muthuswami 2/57) bt West Zone 245 all out in 47.2 overs (Ankit Bawne 28, K Jadhav 97, S Yadav 35; A Dinda 4/33, B Samantray 2/52, S Nadeem 2/42)
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