North Zone clinches trophy

BANGALORE, FEB. 10. North Zone wrested the Vijay Hazare (under- 16) trophy from East Zone by virtue of its first innings lead of 162 runs on the final day at the Rajendra Sinhji Stadium. East on the second day was 219 for three chasing 492 to overhaul North's effort of the first innings.

East started of well on the final day with overnight batsmen Ajay Garai (89) and Arshad Iqbal (47) carrying it to 286. The fourth wicket partnership had reached three short of the hundred mark when Arshad Iqbal was pouched at slip by Paras Dogra off Abhishek Sharma. Ajay Garai followed his partner back to the pavilion 11 runs later giving Vishwas Bhalla at covers a lofted shot. Abhishek Sharma was again the successful bowler.

With the overnight batsmen dismissed, East began to crumble. Ajith Kumar Singh (30) was the only other East Zone batsman to make a contribution. Ajith Kumar Singh and Sujeet Kumar fell to successive deliveries from Ankur Jund who had a haul of three for 46.

North faced 48 overs in its second knock and openers Vishwas Bhalla (67) and Rahul Arora (71) forged a 129 run first wicket partnership. Deepak Soni (54) coming in at one drop also compiled a half-century while first innings centurion Paras Dogra missed his half century by five runs. North ended the final day's session at 266 for four.

The scores: North Zone 491 and 266 for four (Vishwas Bhalla 67, Rahul Arora 71, Deepak Soni 54, Paras Dogra 45, Arshad Iqbal two for 28) bt East Zone 329 in 117.4 overs (Rakesh Mohanty 48, Mayukh Biswas 45, S.P Priyadarshan 38, Ajay Garai 89, Arshad Iqbal 47, Ajith Kumar Singh 30, Abhishek Sharma four for 87, Ankur Jund three for 46). North won on first innings lead.

North Zone, which won the Vijay Hazare trophy (under-16) in Bangalore on Saturday. Kneeling (l-r) Paras Dogra, Himanshu Mehta, Puneet Sharma, Sumit Silwal, Kailash Saini and Ankur Jund. Standing (l-r): Gaurav Gupta, Rahul Arora, Deepak Soni, Abhinav Bali, Abhishek Sharma (capt), Sunil Chauhan (manager/Coach), Bhupinder Singh and Vishwas Bhalla.

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