Ajay Jadeja summed it up best: ‘‘Mohd Kaif showed us what cricket is all about.’’ What it was about was a sparkling 131 off 125 balls for Central Zone against North in the Deodhar Trophy here today, leading his team to a five-wicket win.For someone who enjoys stealing his runs, Kaif’s outing today was totally different. From the moment the right-hander walked in, he batted as if to prove a point. While North skipper Virender Sehwag was busy placing his fielders, his speedsters Gagandeep Singh and Amit Bhandari were reduced to beamers (some of the verbal kind) to try and restrict Kaif.He played the pacers with such ease that Sehwag had no choice but to continue with Harbhajan Singh and Dinesh Mongia to stem the flow of runs.Having talked about the need to get into the groove before Pakistan’s visit and focusing on the importance of a competitive domestic circuit, Kaif simply practiced what he preached. Significantly, among India’s premier batsmen currently playing the Deodhar Trophy (VVS, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Gambhir and others), only Kaif has been among the runs.His leadership qualities also came into play, using his bowlers to optimum effect against a rampaging North Zone. As his teammates put it at the end of the day, he set an example to follow.BRIEF SCORESNorth Zone: 276/6 (Mithun Manhas 97, Dinesh Mongia 90 n.o., Virender Sehwag 51; RP Singh 4/56, JP Yadav 2/22) lost to Central Zone: 277/5 (Md Kaif 131 n.o., Naman Ojha 59, Sanjay Bangar 48)South beats EastAhmedabad: Motera seems to be a happy hunting ground for Rowland Barrington. After his hundred against Gujarat in a Ranji match earlier this season, he scored a chanceless inning of 104 to help South Zone record a 13-run win over East.Brief score: South Zone: 280 (R Barrington 104, S Sriram 69; R Bose 4/40) bt East Zone: 267 (R Gavaskar 49, S Sanyal 60, N Behra 73; V Vardhan 4/49, R Jesuraj 3/43).
