West on course for a hat-trick

MARAUDER: Yusuf Pathan was his usual belligerent self smashing the North bowlers all over the park. Photo: K. R. Deepak

West choked Central Zone into submission in the second semifinal of the Deodhar Trophy at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Stadium here on Tuesday.

Its seven-pronged attack gave little leeway, running Central’s chase aground at 191 against a target of 234. West faces North in the final for the fifth time on the trot.

Aided by a track that was taking turn and bounce, with the ball a shade slow in coming on to the bat, West rarely eased the pressure for a well-earned victory. At his acrobatic best was stumper Parthiv Patel, leaping low to his right mostly for his seven victims, an ample indication of the assault’s accuracy.

Yusuf’s big knock

Earlier, Piyush Chawla (four for 54) had steered his side back into the contention, halting Yusuf Pathan’s blistering 57-ball 70 (9x4, 1x6).

That blitz enabled West wriggle out from a wobbly 105 for four to an imposing 223 for eight.

Pathan senior had pummelled the opposition till he was lured to his doom, lobbing to long off Anureet Singh, whose poise held good as did the catch, close to the ropes.

After West chose to bat, Central’s line kept the batsmen in check for over half the innings, the spinners continuing the good work the seamers had begun.

Cheteshwar Pujara maintained a lone vigil, finding the ropes four times for his 84-ball 60.

Fielding by Central was of the highest order, epitomised by Shalabh Shrivastava’s direct hit from as far as long off, sending back Akshar Patel.

The scores:

West Zone: K. Devdhar c Pandey b Karn 32, Parthiv Patel c Rawat b Anureet 1, Cheteshwar Pujara c Anureet b Umesh 60, Ambati Rayudu c Rawat b Karn 8, Kedar Jadhav b Chawla 12 , Yusuf Pathan c Anureet b Chawla 70, A. Vasavada c Karn b Chawla 12, Akshar Patel run out 20, Dhawal Kulkarni c Anureet b Chawla 2, Jayadev Unadkat (not out) 3, Jasprit Bumrah (not out) 5; Extras (lb-2, w-6 ): 8; Total (for nine wkts. in 50 overs): 233.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-57, 3-77, 4-105, 5-124, 6-172, 7-219, 8-223, 9-226.

Central bowling: Ishwar Pandey 10-1-54-0, Anureet Singh 8-2-33-1, Umesh Yadav 10-0-53-1, Piyush Chawla 12-0-54-4, Karn Sharma 10-0-37-2.

Central Zone: Faiz Fazal c Parthiv b Unadkat 4, Jalaj Saxena c Parthiv b Bumrah 1, Shalabh Shrivastava c Parthiv b Kulkarni 65, Naman Ojha c Parthiv b Kulkarni 9, Mahesh Rawat c Rayudu b Vasavada 6, Piyush Chawla c Parthiv b Kulkarni 41, Akshdeep Nath lbw b Kulkarni 0, Karn Sharma c Parthiv b Unadkat 0, Ishwar Pandey c Pujara b Vasavada 9, Umesh Yadav st Parthiv b Vasavada 30, Anureet Singh (not out) 12; Extras (lb-6, w-8): 14; Total (in 44.3 overs): 191.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-15, 3-57, 4-73, 5-136, 6-136, 7-140, 8-140, 9-161.

West bowling: Jayadev Unadkat 8-0-35-2, Jasprit Bumrah 8-0-30-1, Dhawal Kulkarni 11-3-39-4, Akshar Patel 8-0-37-0, Arpit Vasavada 4.3-1-19-3, Yusuf Pathan 3-0-14-0, Ambati Rayudu 2-0-11-0.