MATCH REPORT
Follow UsWith the sweltering heat, South Zone knew that the easiest route to the final of the Deodhar Trophy is by winning the clash against a strong East Zone side. And then, East Zone made it tough when they opted to bat first, putting the South Zone fielders under the direction of the sun like they were puppets.
As anticipated, the Karnataka trio of Koushik, Vidwath Kaverappa and Vyshak Vijaykumar were reunited. It took some inspired bowling from Koushik to dismiss an in-form Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was threatening to make it large. Subhransu Senapati then joined hands with the Jharkhand opener Virat Singh to put on a stellar partnership.
Not only were the duo incisive in between the wickets, but they also timed their boundaries to perfection, leaving the South bowlers walking back to their bowling marks without much reward. But the introduction of spin – Sai Kishore – made a long-lasting impression on the game, with the left-arm spinner outfoxing Senapati, on 44, with the score reading 108/2 during his break from signing autographs.
Virat didn’t last too long after that, as Washington Sundar induced an inside edge that disturbed the timber, as East continued to falter at 110/3. Kishore then struck again when he removed East’s skipper Saurabh Tiwary (5).
There was some kind of hope when Riyan Parag was smashing the ball, but all those hopes came crashing down when Kaverappa returned to the bowling crease. The Karnataka pacer then also removed Kumar Kushagra, leaving the rest to almost formality, as they lost seven wickets for just 35 runs.
Or at least that’s what South thought. At 143/8 with no real hope, Akash Deep and Mukhtar Hussain put on a show for the handful of fans at the scenic venue in Puducherry. While Akash aimed for the bigger hits, Mukhtar relied on his timing to get the ball over. Kaverappa erred in his line and length, bowling four wides in the same over, as East began putting a lot of pressure.
In the span of five deliveries, after the partnership had reached 74 runs, Akash and Mukhtar found the ‘crowd favourite’ Washington Sundar to end on a just par total of 229.
Despite a rare off day for Rohan Kunnummal, South Zone were well and truly cruising at 47/1 after eight over. Any sign of a comeback was partially put to a comma when Sai Sudharsan etched a brilliant partnership with skipper Mayank Agarwal. While Agarwal had lives almost equivalent to a cat, the ability to find boundaries with such ease helped the team negate the scoreboard pressure.
Mayank could have been the first to be dismissed had Mura Singh not overstepped when the Karnataka opener was on three. Later, Akash missed a rather tough return catch before two simple misses from Parag and Tiwary helped the right-hander cooking.
That sort of lives eventually made things easier for South, with Mayank cruising his way before his luck ran out when Parag grabbed a stunner at slips. Even though East sort of made a comeback, removing both Mayank and Sai in the span of five deliveries, Narayan Jagadeesan’s breezy cameo (32 off 36), with help from Rohit Rayudu (24 off 37) and Washington Sundar (8 off 12), helped South to become the first finalists of this year.
Central stroll the park against North East
Adjacently, at Ground 3, it was Venkatesh Iyer’s Central Zone taking on a considerably weak North East Zone in the other morning encounter. Shivam Mavi and Yash Thakur ensured that North East didn’t get off the best start possible at 17/2. Despite Ashish Thapa and Langlonyamba’s partnership, the score could only move to 77/4.
Kamsha Yangfo (35) and Rex Singh (27) did put on a partnership, but all of that eventually only got them to 164 despite Central’s wayward bowling – where they conceded 17 extras – with seven of them being wides. Aditya Sarvate was the best bowler (3/19) for Iyer’s side, with Yash Kothari chipping with twin wickets.
When Khrievitso removed Kothari for a second-ball duck, there were raised eyebrows. But those immediately went back to their place when the swashbuckling duo of Shivam Chaudhary and Yash Dubey (72) put on a monstrous partnership (152) in just 29.2 overs. Saransh Jain (8*) then joined Shivam (85*) to seal the deal.
Unfortunately, a win that was as worthwhile as the e in queue.
West Zone gain crucial points, thanks to Shivam Dube
Muscle Shivam Dube was in action, helping the West Zone gain two crucial points. It was always going to be a crucial contest for both sides, considering that East Zone lost their encounter against South earlier in the day. Batting first, North Zone, courtesy of three half-centuries, from Himanshu Rana (54), Nitish Rana (54) and SG Rohilia (56), took them to a total of 259 in 50 overs. Prabhsimran Singh and Abhishek Sharma were crucial to the brisk start that North Zone had gotten, with the Punjab right-hander scoring run-a-ball 26.
Shams Mulani yet again proved his worth on pitches that aid turners with a three-wicket haul, ending with figures of 3/29 in his ten overs. Surprisingly, even the part-time spin of Sarfaraz Khan yielded him a wicket alongside Rahul Tripathi. Chasing 260, West Zone got off to the worst start possible, losing both their skipper Priyank Panchal (14) and Rahul Tripathi (3) within the 11th over of the innings, with the score reading 49/2.
From thereon, all eyes were on Sarfaraz Khan to finish the game for West, but then the partnership between Shivam Dube and Kathan Patel came out of the syllabus. Dube's long handle especially turned the tide around, and even the introduction of Mayank Markande into the attack to possibly disrupt the left-hander's momentum turned out in vain. The CSK all-rounder tonked one of Markande's turners into the longer half of the ground, with the ball rolling away to the other pitch in the other ground.
While Dube was smacking sixes, Kathan went about his business quietly, scoring a 63 that, in the end, was enough to seal a six-wicket win for West Zone. That essentially now makes the clash between West Zone and East Zone a virtual semi-final.
