East Zone win a cliffhanger

All that begins well, ends well. The saying proved right for only one of the teams during the Deodhar Trophy encounter between South Zone and East Zone at Motera on Monday. It was a competitive game with South’s Swapnil Asnodkar scoring a run-a-ball century, but what turned the game East’s way was the perfect finishing that Rohan Gavaskar gave with an unbeaten 79 off 97 balls to clinch it by a wicket in the last over.

East began their reply to a mammoth 271 set by South in style as opener Parvez Aziz hit a quickfire 56 off 37 balls, which included 11 fours and a huge six. Once he left the scene, Rohan took over with a required run-rate of 5.54. The left-hander stitched a 77-run partnership with skipper Deep Dasgupta before the latter departed. But it did not have any impact on Rohan as he kept his cool.

The South bowlers never posed any threat for Rohan who smacked the ball at will. His 147-minute stay at the crease was a delight as he plundered runs, sending the ball to all corners of the park. With him at the crease, East were at their best.

Earlier, 22-year-old Swapnil Asnodkar notched up 107 with 14 hits to the boundary. The Goan lad played shots all over the park and his shots reminded one of a certain Sachin Tendulkar. He was involved in two crucial partnerships — first with skipper VVS Laxman worth 89 off 95 balls and the second one with Venugopala Rao for the third wicket that was worth 84 runs.