Baba Aparajith looked the part as a top order batsman on a spiteful Wankhede pitch and sparkled in South Zone’s 116-run win over Central Zone in the quarterfinal of the Prof. D. B. Deodhar Trophy on Saturday.
The Tamil Nadu batsman, who came to the middle at the fall of Robin Uthappa in the last ball of the ninth over, demonstrated the right technique and temperament to keep the Central’s attack at bay.
He got out in the 47th over after making his second limited-over century (113, 105b, 8x4, 2x6).
His splendid effort in the first half of the day, after put in by Central, propelled his team to 296 for nine in 50 overs.
Central’s seam bowlers — Pankaj Singh, Ishwar Pandey and Anureet Singh — used the new ball well to reduce South to 88 for three by the 21st over. Pankaj Singh had Uthappa nicking to ‘keeper Jitesh Sharma, Anureet beat Manish Pandey in the air to dislodge the stumps and Ishwar Pandey forced an edge from Mayank Agarwal’s bat.
Neither the wrist spinner Piyush Chawla nor the Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav were able to display sufficient guile to break Aparajith and Karun Nair’s concentration.
The high-scoring rate by the fourth-wicket pair largely paved the way for South to reach 296 when Nair fell in the batting power-play.
South made 39 off the power-play overs (36-40) and lost a wicket.
Thereafter Aparajith forged useful partnerships with Sanju Samson and Sachin Baby as South proceeded towards posting a 300 plus total. But Pankaj (five for 45) picked up three quick wickets off four balls (Vinay Kumar, Baby and Reddy) to restrict it to 296.
Seamer Vinay Kumar used the ideal bowling conditions to get the better of the top order batsmen and three run outs added to Central’s misery. Only Arjit Gupta scored an entertaining half-century.
Man-of-the-Match Aparajith said it was good to score a hundred in the presence of national selectors.
South will play West in the semifinals on Monday.
Minute’s silenceBoth teams and match officials observed a minute’s silence before the start of play in memory of Phil Hughes.
The scores:
South Zone: Robin Uthappa c Jitesh Sharma b Pankaj Singh 9, Mayank Agarwal c Dagar b Pandey 35, Baba Aparajith c Dagar b Jalaj Saxena 113, Manish Pandey b Anureet Singh 7, Karun Nair c Pandey b Pankaj Singh 74, Sanju Samson c Pandey b Jalaj Saxena 7, Sachin Baby c Sharma b Pankaj Singh 28, R. Vinay Kumar c Anureet Singh b Pankaj Singh 7, Ashish Reddy c Anureet Singh b Pankaj Singh 4, Darshan Misal (not out) 0, C. Stephen (not out) 0; Extras (lb-5, w-7): 12; Total (for nine wkts. in 50 overs): 296.
Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-60, 3-88, 4-212, 5-240, 6-272, 7-292, 8-292, 9-296.
Central Zone bowling: Pankaj Singh 10-1-45-5, Ishwar Pandey 9-2-38-1, Anureet Singh 9-0-47-1, Piyush Chawla 7-0-61-0, Kuldeep Yadav 7-0-54-0, Jalaj Saxena 8-0-46-2.
Central Zone: Mukul Dagar run out 47, Jalaj Saxena run out 1, Jitesh Sharma c Pandey b Vinay Kumar 2, Ashok Menaria lbw b Vinay Kumar 0, Anand Bais run out 19, Piyush Chawla st. Uthappa b Misal 31, Arjit Gupta c Aparajith b Vinay Kumar 66, Kuldeep Yadav c Uthappa b P. Pandey 1, Anureet Singh c Samson b Misal 0, Ishwar Pandey (not out) 2, Pankaj Singh b Ashish Reddy 1; Extras (lb-2, w-8): 10; Total (in 36.3 overs): 180.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-4, 3-4, 4-63, 5-82, 6-129, 7-138, 8-149, 9-178.
South Zone bowling: Vinay Kumar 6-2-8-3, C. Stephen 7-0-34-0, Manish Pandey 9-0-61-1, Ashish Reddy 5.3-0-14-1, Darshan Misal 6-0-41-2, Aparajith 3-0-20-0.
