Saba Karim and Haldipur steal the thunder

By Our Sports Reporter

VADODARA, JAN. 19. It was a perfect strip for strokeplay and the batsmen showed a huge appetite for runs.

East Zone made chasing a target of 306 look like child's play, as Nikhil Haldipur and Saba Karim saw the team through with a 175- run unbroken partnership that literally broke defending champion Central Zone's back, in the Deodhar Trophy match at the IPCL ground here on Wednesday.

Propelled by an aggressive 107-run opening stand between Haldipur and Shiv Sundar Das, East never let the tempo down despite a couple of run outs in between. Scoring at well over 10 an over, the openers pushed Central to its wits end and there was no looking back as East romped home with seven wickets and just about 10 overs to spare.

Haldipur, who remained unbeaten on 127, thus put in shade the highest score of the match (128), which came from Jai Prakash Yadav's blade earlier in the day. And with Saba Karim intent on sharing the stage, all talk was restricted about the latter part of the day.

Haldipur and Das matched each other stroke for stroke, till Das was the first of two run out victims. Das's 49 off 37 balls saw him hit seven fine fours and a pulled six over mid wicket off seamer Ashish Winston Zaidi early in the innings.

Haldipur however was unfazed by Das's dismissal or that of Rohan Gavaskar in similar fashion a little later. After Pravanjan Mullick also departed with the score at 134, Saba Karim took control at the other end.

Haldipur sent the ball to all parts of the ground, his sweetly- timed shots going through the gaps with ease, especially square of the wicket on the off side. His essay came off just 113 deliveries, in which he hit 14 fours, and it was only later in the innings that he was overshadowed by Saba Karim, whom he helped to a century as well.

Having almost got to the target, it was only a matter of whether the wicketkeeper would get to the three-figure mark. With Haldipur restraining himself a bit, Saba Karim stroked freely and got to his century with a lofted four through cover, when the scores were level at 305.

Saba Karim's knock came off just 89 balls, in which he hit 10 boundaries and two sixes, both pulled over mid wicket, off left- arm spinner Gyanendra Pandey and part-time slow bowler Gagan Khoda.

Earlier, Central, without an indisposed Sanjay Bangar, elected to bat. Opener Gagan Khoda (40) and Jai Prakash Yadav put the team on the right track with a 99-run second wicket stand, the latter going on to torment the bowling.

Jai Prakash Yadav's 128 came off 107 balls, with the help of 17 fours and two straight sixes off medium-pacer Jabed Zaman and left-arm spinner Utpal Chatterjee, the most successful bowler of the day with four scalps.

Jai Prakash Yadav was associated in a useful 109-run third wicket stand with fellow Madhya Pradesh player Amay Khurasiya, who was content playing second fiddle for a change. Though the stylish left-hander too showed a glimpse of his class with a huge straight six, he was out on 38, caught and bowled by East skipper Chatterjee.

Another Madhya Pradesh player, Devendra Bundela then came in to play a quickfire 45 off 27 balls, in which he hoisted three sixes and three fours. But as it turned out, it was not the batting but the bowling that mattered. The Central bowlers could do nothing in the face of the aggressive stuff from the opposition.

East now takes on North Zone at the same venue on Saturday.

The scores :

Central Zone : Jyoti Yadav b Zaman 8, Gagan Khoda c Haldipur b Chatterjee 40, Jai Prakash Yadav c Zaman b Chatterjee 128, Amay Khurasiya c and b Chatterjee 38, Syed Abbas Ali c Raul b Chatterjee 10, Devendra Bundela c and b Zaman 45, Gyanendra Pandey (not out) 14, Manoj Mudgal (run out) 3, Harvinder Singh Sodhi (not out) 1, Extras (b-2, lb-2, w-10, nb-4) 18, Total (for seven wickets in 50 overs) 305.

Fall of wickets : 1-12, 2-111, 3-220, 4- 231, 5-251, 6-297, 7- 302.

East bowling : Jabed Zaman 9-0-71-2, Laxmi Rattan Shukla 10-1-52- 0, Sumit Panda 7-0-38-0, Utpal Chatterjee 10-1-53-4, Pravanjan Mullick 1-0-13-0, Rohan Gavaskar 6-0-39-0, Sanjay Raul 7-0-35-0.

East Zone : Shiv Sundar Das (run out) 49, Nikhil Haldipur (not out) 127, Rohan Gavaskar (run out) 5, Pravanjan Mullick c Bundela b Sodhi 7, Saba Karim (not out) 102, Extras lb-2, b-7, w-10) 19, Total (for three wickets in 40.1 overs) 309.

Fall of wickets : 1-107, 2-112, 3-134.

Central bowling : Harvinder Singh Sodhi 5-0-51-1, Ashish Winston Zaidi 5-0-41-0, Murali Kartik 10-0-71-0, Jai Prakash Yadav 2-0-12-0, Gyanendra Pandey 7-0-61-0, Abbas Ali 5.1-0-34-0, Gagan Khoda 6-0-37-0.

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