Yusuf Pathan whacked a thunderous half-century for West Zone but it wasn’t enough to stop North Zone’s Virat Kohli from lifting the Deodhar Trophy at the Motibaug ground in Baroda on Tuesday. In the title match, North emerged victorious by 49 runs.
Chasing North’s 267, Ajinkya Rahane (46) and Cheteshwar Pujara (33) provided a good platform but a middle order collapse — Parthiv Patel (1), Rohit Sharma (8) and Ravindra Jadeja (7) — saw Yusuf walking in much earlier than he would have anticipated.
Soon it was 108 for six but Yusuf, who knows only to attack, went on the offensive without wasting time.
The swashbuckling batsman hammered nine sixes and four boundaries during his 80 that came off 39 balls. Besides, he shared 105 runs for the seventh wicket with Mumbai’s Iqbal Abdulla (26 off 37; 1x4, 2x6).
Trying to hit his 10th six, Yusuf was stumped by Uday Kaul off Mukesh Sharma. After his departure, North needed 11 balls to halt West Zone innings at 218, 49 short of the target. Sharma (5/59) and Rahul Dewan (4/18) shared nine wickets.
Earlier, invited to bat, North Zone top order got a decent start but couldn’t convert it into a big score.Uday Kaul (67), Shikhar Dhawan (48), Kohli (29) and Paras Dogra (24) were the contributors as North managed 267/9 in their allotted 50 overs.
Brief scores: North Zone 267/9 (U Kaul 67; Sharma 2/27) beat West Zone 218 all out (Y Pathan 80; Sharma 5/59) by 49 runs
Comments