Dravid ton for South in vain as East win; Central beat West
East Zone and Central Zone registered victories against South Zone and Central Zone respectively on the opening day of the Deodhar Trophy. In Hyderabad, former India captain Rahul Dravid’s magnificent century went in vain as South Zone fell 22 runs short of East Zone’s total of 274 for 5. V V S Laxman could not bat because of an injury as South Zone were dismissed for 252. In Bangalore, Central Zone defeated West Zone by six wickets in a low-scoring encounter. Set a small target of 99 by West, North Zone achieved the target losing 4 wickets in the process.
Batting first after winning the toss, East Zone piled up an impressive 274 for 5 thanks to a belligerent unbeaten 72 off 66 balls by skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla and an excellent 73 by under-19 star Saurabh Tiwary. Former India captain Saurav Ganguly fell for only 1, when he was run out because of a terrible mix-up with his opening partner Arindam Das.
Manoj Tiwari, who played one match for India against Australia in the Commonwealth Bank Series, also scored a fluent 40 that helped accelerate the scoring rate. But it was the 100 they scored in the last 10 overs in which Shukla hit fours and sixes galore that took them to 274 for 5.
For South Zone, Dravid fought a lone battle and despite suffering cramps, went on to score 139 off 138 balls that took the total close to the target. Unfortunately, except for Arjun Yadav who made 42, no South Zone batsman gave Dravid the support he needed to go past the East Zone total. East Zone earned four points from this match, while South had to go empty-handed.
In Bangalore, Central Zone skipper Mohammad Kaif won the toss and asked holders West Zone to bat first. The CBS hero, Praveen Kumar and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla justified the faith of the skipper in them by bundling out West Zone for a paltry 98. While Kumar took 3 for 18, Chawla finished with 3 for 11. Central Zone achieved the target without any major trouble and lost only four wickets in the process. With this quick and comfortable victory, Central Zone also bagged a bonus point, while West Zone were docked a minus point.
