Abhimanyu Easwaran's hundred headlines East's 8-wicket win
Century-maker Abhimanyu Easwaran and Riyan Parag combined their powers to give East Zone a facile eight-wicket win over North East Zone in the Deodhar Trophy in Puducherry on Wednesday.
East Zone decided to bat first and the bowlers, led by Parag, vindicated the call, bundling out North East for 169.
The total was not strong enough to even stretch East and Abhimanyu powered his way to an unbeaten 100 (102 balls, 13x4) as they chased the target in just 31.3 overs.
It was Abhimanyu's eighth List A hundred. This was East's second win in as many matches. They are now second on the points table with 8 points.
South Zone also have 8 points but they top the chart owing to a better net run rate (2.526). East Zone have a NRR of 1.107.
Bengal opener Abhimanyu scored on all parts of the field and was particularly severe on Sikkim off-spinner Lee Yong Lepcha.
Abhimanyu plundered 21 runs off 11 balls, including three fours, off Lepcha. However, he can draw some consolation from the two wickets he grabbed in the match – Utkarsh Singh and Parag.
Once Abhimanyu and his opening partner Utkarsh made 93 runs in 19.3 overs, the course of the match was decided.
Parag was dismissed cheaply for 13 in the 22nd over, but that only boosted East's desire to step on the pedal and boost their net run rate.
Abhimanyu and Virat Singh amassed 61 runs for the unbeaten third wicket in just over nine overs.
Earlier, Parag, whose niche area is hard-hitting, took four wickets with his leg spin.
Parag's four for 30 ensured that North East never really gained any momentum in their innings.
The lone point of steadiness for North East was a 55-run partnership between Rex Rajkumar Singh (65, 74 balls, 10x4) and Lepcha for the eighth wicket.
It lifted North East from a lowly 82 for 7 to a more respectable total, but a vastly insufficient one.
Brief scores: North East Zone: 169 all out in 48 overs (Rex Rajkumar Singh 65 not out; Riyan Parag 4/30, Mukhtar Hussain 2/20) lost to East Zone: 170/2 in 31.3 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 100 not out, Utkarsh Singh 29; Lee Yong Lepcha 2/34) by 8 wickets.
Prabhsimran, Nitish Rana drive North to 48-run win over Central
Centurion Prabhsimran Singh and skipper Nitish Rana were at the top of their game, propelling North Zone to a 48-run win over Central Zone in their Deodhar Trophy match in Puducherry on Wednesday.
Wicketkeeper batsman Prabhsimran hammered 121 off 107 balls as North raced to 307 for 8, and Rana then claimed four wickets with his lethal off-spin as they restricted Central to 259.
Chasing 309 was not an easy task which was compounded by the early dismissal of Central opener Madhav Kaushik. Pacer Harshit Rana snaffled him for 6 in the second over with the board reading 7.
The pair of Shivam Chaudhary and Yash Dubey then tailored a convincing 99-run partnership for the second wicket before spinner Nishant Sindhu got rid of the former for 51 off 60 balls in the 20th over.
Central did not panic as Dubey joined forces with Upendra Yadav and added 91 runs more for the third wicket. It was in the 35th over when Yadav was dismissed for 52 off 55 balls by pacer Mayank Yadav that the panic set in.
The subsequent over saw Dubey walking back, scoring 78 off 92, after being trapped leg-before by Rana. He was the top-scorer for the side, striking 10 fours, most of them coming through the cover region.
With Central reeling at 198 for 5 in the 36th over, skipper Venkatesh Iyer and Karn Sharma scripted a 38-run stand for the sixth wicket.
Karn was evicted by Harshit in the 43rd over for 23 and the fight ebbed from Central thereafter.
Earlier, Central won the toss and invited North to bat. While opener Abhishek Sharma fell in the 11th over for 19 to Iyer at the score of 36, Prabhsimran looked in solid touch.
He stitched together an 87-run partnership for the second wicket with Harshit and a 67-run stand for the third wicket with Nitish as North got a move on.
Prabhsimran's 121 included 13 fours and five sixes at a strike rate of 113.08, dominating the cover and point region.
He was dismissed in the 34th over by leg-spinner Karn, reducing North to 200 for 3. From that point, Nitish and Mandeep Singh added 63 runs for the fourth wicket before the alliance was broken after an unfortunate run out of the former for 51.
North failed to come up with enough convincing partnerships thereon, but did manage to post a formidable total of 307/8.
Yash Thakur and Iyer were the star performers for Central with the ball, bagging a couple of wickets each.
Brief scores: North Zone: 307/8 in 50 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 121, Nitish Rana 51; Venkatesh Iyer 2/50) beat Central Zone: 259 in 47.4 overs (Shivam Chaudhary 51, Yash Dubey 78, Upendra Yadav 52; Nitish Rana 4/48) by 48 runs.
Agarwal makes 98 as South Zone beat West Zone
Skipper Mayank Agarwal's 98 provided the foundation for South Zone's nervy 12-run win over West Zone in a Deodhar Trophy match.
The win took South Zone to the top of the table.
On a day when bowlers generally called the shots, Agarwal made 98 (115 balls, 9x4s) to guide South Zone to 206.
South Zone bowlers then rose to the occasion, restricting West to 194 to give their team valuable four points.
South Zone now have eight points from two matches.
South Zone owe that position of comfort to captain Agarwal, who played a fine innings.
Agarwal preferred the off-side to amass the bulk of his runs as 55 runs were scored through the area.
Out of his nine fours, five came through third man, behind the point and the cover regions as he singlehandedly carried South past the 200-run mark.
Along with veteran batter KB Arun Karthick (23), Mayank milked 50 runs for the fifth wicket in a little over nine overs.
A century would have been the perfect icing on the cake but that wasn't to be. The Karnataka opener fell to Saurashtra left-arm spinner Parth Bhut.
Bhut was the most successful bowler for West Zone as he grabbed three wickets conceding just 25 runs from his 10 overs.
Once they limited South to 206, West Zone might have hoped to register a win without much fuss. But those hopes were unfounded.
South Zone pace bowlers -- Vidwath Kaverappa and Vasuki Koushik -- inflicted early blows and the run out of Ankit Bawane and captain Priyank Panchal too did not help West's cause.
However, West gave a hint of fightback through their middle-order consisting of Sarfaraz Khan (42), Shivam Dube (29) and Atit Sheth (40). Dube and Sheth added 65 runs for the sixth wicket to take West to 163 for five.
But South Zone spinners blunted their attempt with timely strikes. R Sai Kishore and Washington Sundar picked up five wickets between them as West fell short of the target.
