West sends Central to the bottom

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, JAN. 31. Defending champion Central Zone found itself dumped at the bottom of the pile in the Deodhar Trophy after being beaten by West Zone by five wickets at the Wankhede Stadium today. Central ended its Deodhar campaign having won one match out of four this season, after remaining unbeaten last year. West finished in a much happier frame of mind with two wins from four games, finishing up on equal points (4) with South Zone and East Zone. The net run-rate will now settle the issue.

On a lively track on Monday West won the toss and put Central in. Regular strikes within the first 20 overs sealed the match for the home team in the first couple of hours itself. Central could only manage a total of 207 and while West took its time about it, there was little doubt that it would definitely get home and dry.

West captain Nayan Mongia praised the Wankhede wicket for offering everything for every one, but the performance of his strike bowlers would have made him happiest. Left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan bowled his best spell of the Deodhar Trophy harrying the Central openers, and sending them both home inside seven overs. Left-hander Jyoti Yadav shaped up to drive Zaheer and only succeeded in nicking one to Mongia and Central's stand-in skipper Gagan Khoda cut the ball into gully's hands. Khoda took over from the indisposed Gyanendra Pandey.

After that, Central's batsmen had themselves to blame as they fell victim to poor shots. Amay Khurasiya and Sanjay Bangar got good starts but were out trying to force the pace. Only Devendra Bundela showed the grit to put a premium on his wicket. He struck the ball straight and held firm, with little help from his teammates. The MP all rounder, who now bowls rather infrequently, remained unbeaten on 78 (112b 6x4), Central finishing with 207.

Bundela then got his first turn with ball in this tournament and managed to look the most impressive of the Central bowlers. West was off to a good start losing Connor Williams only after the openers had put up 50. At the other end, as usual, Kotak had pitched his tent. Bundela again gave Central its only hope as he removed dangermen, Amol Muzumdar and Vinod Kambli within five overs of each other.

Khurasiya held onto Kambli's slash at gully and Muzumdar fell to a brilliant one-handed catch by Khoda diving full length to his right at first slip. Central's left-arm spinner Murali Kartik could get no purchase from the wicket but kept the runs to a minimum in a tight opening spell. Fortunately for the hosts, Abhijit Kale gritted his teeth and worked the hard way.

The chunky Maharashtra batsman played a responsible innings, though he did not have a huge target in front of him. Kale ended up smashing a few boundaries to put the finishing touches on a splendid 68 not out (76b 7x4). Kotak went for 45 (86b) scored off in two hours and 45 minutes, freeing one end up for some dynamism. Mongia stayed on for a short while, but it was Kale who dragged the team over the finish line with three overs to spare.

Mysteriously Central's best bowler from its last match off spinner Pritam Gandhe was brought on to bowl only in the 38th over by which time, the situation had reached a point of no return. The wicket was doing nothing to assist spin, but introducing Gandhe to gnaw away at the left-hander Kotak earlier may have given Central another option of retrieving what looked like an irretrievable situation.

lScores: Central Zone: Gagan Khoda c Kulkarni b Khan 13, Jyoti Yadav c Mongia b Khan 1, Jai Prakash Yadav c Kale b Dani 31, Amay Khurasiya c Mongia b Bhoite 22, Sanjay Bangar c Kambli b Bhoite 24, Devendra Bundela not out 78, Abbas Ali c Muzumdar b Kulkarni 19, M Mudgal c Kotak b Kulkarni 2, Harvinder Singh Sodhi c Bhoite b Dani 8, Pritam Gandhe not out 2, Extras (lb-4, nb-1, w-2) 7. Total (in 50 overs, for 8 wickets) 207.

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-24, 3-70, 4-74, 5-116, 6-165, 7-175, 8- 199.

West Zone bowling: Zaheer Khan 10-2-41- 2, Rajesh Garsondia 10-0- 36-0, Amit Dani 10-0-52-2, Ajit Bhoite 10-1-42-2, Nilesh Kulkarni 10-0-32-2.

West Zone: Sudanshu Kotak c Jyoti Yadav b Jai Prakash Yadav 45, Connor Williams c Khurasiya b Jai Prakash Yadav 28, Vinod Kambli c Khurasiya b Bundela 23, Amol Muzumdar c Khoda b Bundela 8, Abhijit Kale not out 68, Nayan Mongia c sub (Raja Ali) b Gandhe 11, Ashu Dani not out 12, Extras (b-2, lb-4, w-4 nb-6) 16. Total (for five wickets in 47 overs) 211.

Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-84, 3-102, 4-141, 5-169.

Central Zone Bowling: Harvinder Sodhi 8-1-29-0, Sanjay Bangar 8-0-44-0, Jai Prakash Yadav 10-0-47-2 (4nb 2w), Devendra Bundela 6-0-20-2, Murali Kartik 10-0-39-0, Pritam Gandhe 5-0-26-1.

Amit Dhani of West Zone celebrates after dismissing Jai Prakash of Central Zone in the Deodhar Trophy match for placings on Monday.

Tendulkar to lead Mumbai

MUMBAI, JAN. 31. India captain Sachin Tendulkar will lead Mumbai in its first Rannji Trophy Super League encounter against defending champion Karnataka in Bangalore from February 5 to 8.

The Mumbai Cricket Association announced the Mumbai team today for the team's first Group A Super League tie, the rest of the group comprising Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bengal and Delhi.

Tendulkar and wicketkeeper Samir Dighe and pace bowler Ajit Agarkar are the three Mumbai players who played on the Indian team which just ended a disastrous tour of Australia.

The team: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Samir Dighe (wk), Amol Muzumdar, Vinod Kambli, Jatin Paranjpe, Ajit Agarkar, Abey Kuruvilla, Sriram Kannan, Amit Dani, Nilesh Kulkarni, Rajesh Pawar, Wasim Jaffer, Amol Rane, Sushant Manjrekar and Ramesh Powar.

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