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West Zone wins Deodhar Trophy

Special Correspondent

Skipper Jaffer scores century; Pujara comes good again

— Photo: Ashoke Chakrabarty

ONE FOR THE ALBUM: The West Zone players are delighted after winning the Deodhar Trophy at Cuttack on Wednesday.

CUTTACK: West Zone, having won the Duleep Trophy earlier, continued its good run, thrashing East by 218 runs — highest victory margin in the Prof. D.B. Deodhar Trophy zonal limited-overs tournament – in the final at the Barabati Stadium on Wednesday.

After winning the toss, West compiled a record total of 362 for five in 50 overs. East was bundled out for 144 in 39.4 overs.

On a placid pitch, East started well, removing Ajinkya Rahane (2) and Parthiv Patel (12) early. No. 4 Rakesh Solanki, one of the two changes in the side, sacrificed his wicket for skipper Wasim Jaffer when the score read 85. For a moment, East looked on top but Jaffer played some splendid strokes and changed the complexion of the match.

Missed chances

East players had to blame themselves for the agony. Jaffer, when on 25, got a reprieve in the ninth over when wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha missed an offering off Ranadeb Bose. The other culprit was Dhiraj Goswami, who missed a simple caught and bowled chance when the batsman was on 49.

West never looked back after the two ‘lucky’ breaks. Jaffer and the ever-consistent Cheteshwar Pujara piled on the agony on East with some superb batting display.

Jaffer played true to his nickname, Nawab, with languid grace and poise. He picked the gaps with uncanny judgment and reached his sixth hundred in 95 balls with eight fours and a six.

The two added 158 runs for the fourth wicket in 143 balls that took the match away from East. Jaffer fell for 116 (108b, 15x4, 1x6) at 243 in the 40th over.

Twenty runs later, Pujara departed falling to part-time bowler Dipak Sharma for 94 (86b, 7x4, 2x6).

Ravindra Jadeja and Abhishek Nayar took centrestage, blasting 99 runs in 47 balls for the sixth wicket.

The weight of the target brought East to the knees. Manoj Tiwary was the lone exception in the top order to show the willingness to take on the West bowlers.

After he was run out in an unfortunate circumstance, there was none to make a match of it though Goswami wielded the bat effectively to collect 40 runs.

Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) erred in appointing umpire A.M. Saheba of Gujarat Cricket Association, which is a component of West Zone, as one of the umpires.

As per the convention, umpires from zones not figuring in the match are appointed to oversee a contest.

When contacted, Sanjay Jagdale, convenor of the umpires’ sub-committee, said Saheba was not only highly respected but belongs to the international panel.

“The panel for the entire tournament was decided before the tournament. Moreover, there was no time to make a change before the final,” he said.

The scores: West: A. Rahane b Dinda 2, P. Patel c Saha b Bose 12, W. Jaffer c Goswami b Bose 116, R. Solanki (run out) 17, C. Pujara c M. Tiwary b Sharma 94, R. Jadeja (not out) 61, A. Nayar (not out) 54; Extras (nb-1, w-5): 6; Total (for five wkts. in 50 overs): 362.

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-40, 3-85, 4-243, 5-263.

East bowling: Bose 10-0-54-2, Dinda 10-0-81-1, Goswami 9-0-68-0, Mohanty 10-0-54-0, Tiwary 6-0-68-0, Sharma 5-0-37-0.

East: W. Saha b Odedra 2, N. Behera lbw b Odedra 12, H. Das b Trivedi 0, I. Jaggi b Trivedi 8, M. Tiwary (run out) 24, S. Tiwary (run out) 2, D. Sharma lbw b Nayar 7, R. Mohanty lbw b Nayar 26, D. Goswami (not out) 40, A. Dinda b Jadeja 16, R. Bose c Patel b Jadeja 0; Extras (b-4, lb-1, w-2): 7; Total (in 39.4 overs): 144.

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-11, 3-15, 4-47, 5-47, 6-49, 7-78, 8-106, 9-144.

West bowling: Trivedi 8-2-27-2, Odedra 10-0-32-2, Abdullah 10-1-29-0, Nayar 6-0-30-2, Jadeja 3.4-0-16-2, Makwana 2-0-5-0.

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