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West Zone enters final

A. Joseph Antony

VADODARA: It was searing heat from the sky till it rained sixes. Fifteen of them flooded the Motibaug Cricket Ground as West amassed 335 for eight and inflicted an ignominious 216-run defeat on Central Zone in their Deodhar Trophy semifinal on Monday.

Half a dozen mighty heaves came from Yusuf Pathan, three from Ravindra Jadeja, two each from Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara and one each from Parthiv Patel and Dhaval Kulkarni.

In the process, West busted a long-standing myth of the side batting second inevitably winning, after Central invited its opponent to take first strike.

Early reversals

Rattled by reversals right from the outset of its run-chase, Central reeled as it became a veritable procession to the pavilion by its batsmen.

Some spilt catches were a blot on West's otherwise methodical win. Given its limited pace resources in Ajit Agarkar's absence, the spinners stepped in admirably to further pin the Central batsmen down. Left-armer Jadeja finished with splendid figures of 4.4-0-8-4.

Earlier, Central's pace battery, so destructive against South just two days earlier, made little impact this time. Initially countering with some obdurate batting, there was a paradigm shift after West's total touched 100. Pujara and Rahane gave the bowling the long handle, setting up the platform for Pathan and his marauding mates to launch their assaults.

Several shuffles and end-switches of a seven-pronged attack yielded fruit. Rahane aiming to rip Pankaj Singh apart, nicked a head-high delivery to wicket-keeper Ojha. By then, the opener had done his groundwork well, reducing the bowling to ordinary proportions.

Productive partnership

Characteristic of productive partnerships, Pujara departed shortly after, his pull off Pankaj pouched by mid-wicket Tanmay. The duet he had struck with Rahane saw the duo taking turns in smacking sixes and slamming boundaries. Pathan followed suit in this regard, smiting R.P. Singh towards the sight-screen to bring up West's 200 while sending his home crowd into raptures.

Not to be left behind, Parthiv let one fly over long-on. Another skier flowed from Pathan, sailing over the mid-wicket tents, complemented by Parthiv's overhead glide off a short one, six and boundary in that order delighting a fairly large turnout.

Evident from his tally, Pankaj was the pick of Central's bowlers, hostile as ever in a four-wicket haul. Little could be done to stop a rampaging Pathan, whose half a dozen sixes and four boundaries exploded from just 24 balls. Ravindra Jadeja also replicated the fireworks.

The scores: West Zone: Chirag Pathak c Harpreet b Pankaj 5, Ajinkya Rahane c Ojha b Pankaj 76, Cheteshwar Pujara c Tanmay b Pankaj 86, Rohit Sharma b Pankaj 8, Yusuf Pathan b Tyagi 59, Parthiv Patel c Ojha b Tyagi 20, Ravindra Jadeja c Pankaj b R.P. Singh 42, Iqbal Abdulla c Kaif b R.P. Singh 18, Dhawal Kulkarni (not out) 6, Extras (b-4, lb-2, nb-1, w-8) 15, Total (for eight wkts. in 50 overs): 335.

Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-170, 3-181, 4-192, 5-240, 6-275, 7-321, 8-335.

Central bowling: R.P. Singh 10-2-86-2, Pankaj 10-0-38-4, Tyagi 10-0-76-2, Chawla 10-0-47-0, T.P. Singh 6-0-28-0, Raina 3-0-45-0, Harpreet 1-0-9-0.

Central Zone: Tanmay Srivastav (run out) 12, Naman Ojha c Pathak b Kulkarni 5, Monish Mishra lbw b Odedra 19, Mohd. Kaif c Jadeja b Kulkarni 12, Suresh Raina st. Parthiv b Odedra 0, Harpreet Singh c Kedar Jadhav b Jadeja 35, T.P. Singh b Jadeja 26, Piyush Chawla c Parthiv b Jadeja 0, R.P. Singh c Rohit b Abdulla 5, Pankaj Singh c Jadhav b Jadeja 2, Sudeep Tyagi (not out) 0, Extras (w-3) 3, Total (in 29.4 overs) 119.

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-18, 3-47, 4-48, 5-60, 6-96, 7-96, 8-104, 9-119.

West bowling: Munaf 5-0-18-0, Kulkarni 6-0-29-2, Odedra 7-0-30-2, Yusuf 4-0-23-0, Jadeja 4.4-0-8-4, Abdulla 3-0-11-1 .

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