da aviator aposta： Inspired by the presence of the re-instated Ajay Jadeja, North Zoneraced to their second successive victory in the Deodhar Trophytournament, defeating East Zone by seven wickets at the IPCL SportsComplex ground in Baroda on Saturday
Partab Ramchand22-Jan-2000Inspired by the presence of the re-instated Ajay Jadeja, North Zoneraced to their second successive victory in the Deodhar Trophytournament, defeating East Zone by seven wickets at the IPCL SportsComplex ground in Baroda on Saturday.East Zone were a shadow of the side that defeated Central Zone onWednesday. Put in to bat, they were dismissed for 166 off 44.5overs. Opener SS Das (23) and Rohan Gavaskar (25) made briefcontributions in the top order but it was only a fighting 53 by SSRaul which carried the East Zone score to modest proportions. Therewas only one notable partnership during the entire innings – 49 runsfor the eighth wicket between Raul and Laxmi Ratan Shukla (18). Raulscored 53 off 72 balls with six hits to the ropes. But generally thebatsmen found it difficult to get runs off Sarandeep Singh (3 for 41)and Amit Bhandari (3 for 15). Jadeja chipped in with two wickets for38 runs.A total of 166 could never pose many problems for North Zone. Andpredictably enough, they coasted to victory in 31.3 overs. Ashu Dani(27) and skipper Vikram Rathour (70) put on 45 runs for the firstwicket off 8.5 overs. This was followed by a second wicket partnershipof 45 runs between Rathour and Jadeja (13). And a third wicket standof 48 runs between Rathour and Pankaj Dharmani (25 not out) took NorthZone to the doorstep of victory. Rathour, who faced 89 balls hit ninefours and a six. Dharmani and Virender Shewag (16) then applied thefinishing touches.