Haldipur, Karim run riot

On the veritable batting paradise, openers Haldipur and Shiv Sunder Das gave East a scorching start, the 50 coming up in the fifth over, the 100 in the 10th and the 150 before it was time to shift the fielders outside the inner circle.

East equalled Central’s score of 305 at the end of the 40th over, with Karim on 98. It took the former India wicket-keeper just the first ball of the 41st over by Abbas Ali, which he belted to the long off fence, to simultaneously bring up both his own century and the winning runs.

Earlier, Jaiprakash Yadav’s century formed the cornerstone of Central’s innings. He raised a 99-run stand with Gagan Khoda (40) for the second wicket and 108 for the third wicket with Amay Khurasia (38).

Towards the end of the innings a 27-ball cameo knock of 45 by Devendra Bundela took Central’s score to the threshold of the 300 mark.

Scoreboard

Central Zone: Jyoti Yadav b Zaman 8 (10b, 18m, 2×4), Gagan Khoda c Haldipur b Chatterjee 40 (59b, 101m, 5×4), Jai Prakash Yadav c Zaman b Chatterjee 128 (107b, 164m, 17×4, 2×6), Amay Khurasia c&b Chatterjee 38 (69b, 73m, 2×4), Abbas Ali c Raul b Chatterjee 10 (13b, 16m), Devendra Bundela c&b Zaman 45 (27b, 28m, 2×4, 3×6), Gyanendra Pandey not out 14 (14b, 28m, 1×4), Manoj Mudgal run out 3 (2b, 5m), Harvinder Singh Sodhi not out 1 (1b, 2m). Extras: (b2, lb2, w10, nb4) 18. Total: (for seven wickets in 50 overs) 305
Fall of wickets: 1-12 (J Yadav), 2-111 (Khoda), 3-219 (Khurasia), 4-231 (JP Yadav), 5-251 (Ali), 6-297 (Bundela), 7-302 (Mudgal)
Bowling: Zaman 9-0-71-2, Shukla 10-1-52-0, Panda 7-0-38-0, Chatterjee 10-1-53-4, Mullick 1-0-13-0, Gavaskar 6-0-39-0, Raul 7-0-35-0.

East Zone: Shiv Sunder Das run out 49 (37b, 52m, 7×4, 1×6), Nikhil Haldipur not out 127 (113b, 187m, 14×4), Rohan Gavaskar run out 5 (3b, 3m, 1×4), Prabhanjan Mullick c Bundela b Sodhi 7 (8b, 11m, 1×4), Saba Karim not out 102 (89b, 116m, 10×4, 2×6). Extras: (lb2, w10, nb7) 19. Total: (for three wickets in 40.1 overs) 309
Fall of wickets: 1-107 (Das), 2-112 (Gavaskar), 3-134 (Mullick)
Bowling: Sodhi 5-0-51-1, Zaidi 5-0-41-0, Karthik 10-0-71-0, JP Yadav 2-0-12-0, Pandey 7-0-61-0, Ali 5.1-0-34-0, Khoda 6-0-37-0.

Result: East won by seven wickets.