Sport - Cricket

West wins with a bonus point

HYDERABAD: West Zone staged a remarkable comeback in the Prof. D.B. Deodhar Trophy limited-overs cricket tournament with an impressive six-wicket win over East Zone at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium (Uppal) here on Monday.

West, which had lost badly to North in the first round in Bangalore, made amends with a professional approach today.

The West bowlers came back strongly despite the early onslaught by Sourav Ganguly (30, 32b, 5x4). Ganguly’s knock included a superb cover-drive and a sweetly-timed pull off Ajit Agarkar in one over.

The East innings lost its tempo when the southpaw misjudged the bounce and was caught smartly by Wasim Jaffer at square-leg off Siddarth Trivedi. Though opener Arindam Das (47, 75b, 4x4) came up with a solid effort, East was in a spot of bother at 124 for four in the 31st over. Captain Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Saurabh Tiwary (65, 58b, 4x4, 2x6) then added a useful 65 for the fifth wicket to put the innings back on the rails. However, Agarkar picked up two wickets in his second spell and East was eventually bowled out for 225.

When West began its chase, Yusuf Pathan (6) was lured by a perfect outswinger from Dheeraj Goswami in the fourth over and snicked to Saurabh Tiwary in the slips.

Jaffer then took charge with a fluent knock (48, 43b, 10x4), each of his boundaries looking better than the previous one. The opener was bowled while attempting a cut off Shib Shankar Paul. Some sensible batting by Ajinkya Rahane (60, 72b, 6x4), Venugopala Rao (37 not out, 49b, 5x4) and Abhishek Nayar (49 not out, 27b, 7x4, 1x6) ensured that West won with a bonus point as it reached the target in the 40th over.

West has four points from two matches and East three from two.

The scores: East: A. Das st. Parthiv b Abdullah 47, S. Ganguly c Jaffer b Trivedi 30, A. Mojumdar lbw b Abdullah 21, Manoj Tiwary b Nayar 13, S. Tiwary c Rahane b Agarkar 65, L.R. Shukla c Munaf b Venugopala Rao 25, W. Saha c Trivedi b Venugopala Rao 3, D. Goswami b Agarkar 7, Ranadeb Bose (run out) 0, S.S. Paul (run out) 3, I. Saxena (not out) 0; Extras (b-4, lb-3, w-4): 11; Total (in 49.2 overs): 225

Fall of wickets: 1-63, 2-98, 3-111, 4-124, 5-189, 6-198, 7-216, 8-217, 9-221.

West bowling: Munaf 8-0-26-0, Agarkar 9.2-0-46-2, Trivedi 9-1-39-1, Abdullah 10-0-45-2, Nayar 6-0-26-1, Venugopala Rao 5-0-16-2, Yusuf Pathan 2-0-20-0.

West: Yusuf Pathan c S. Tiwary b Goswami 6, W. Jaffer b S.S. Paul 48, A. Rahane c (sub) I. Jaggi b L.R. Shukla 60, Parthiv Patel (run out) 18, Venugopala Rao (not out) 37, A. Nayar (not out) 49; Extras (lb-5, w-3): 8; Total (for four wkts. in 39.2 overs): 226.

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-66, 3-123, 4-157.

East bowling: Bose 8-0-51-0, Goswami 6-1-36-1, Paul 7.2-0-43-1, Ganguly 6-0-24-0, Saxena 7-0-38-0, Shukla 5-0-29-1.

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