Rathore, Jadeja steer North to Deodhar title

South Zone skipper Mohammad Azharuddin, who scored five runs, failed to turn up for the valedictory function. He made his way out of the stadium through the back door. Middle-order batsman S Sharath’s splendid hundred (104) was the only solace for South in the match organised as a benefit for former Maharashtra Ranji Trophy player Vinayak Khedkar.

When all the eyes were focused on Ajay Jadeja and Azharuddin, North’s Rathore stole the attention with his brisk batting.

“I had set my mind on the target,” said Rathore as he raced to his half centuryoff 37 deliveries. “Yes, it did work out and having failed to deliver in the last match, we had worked it out over the five free days, and it paid off.”

Everything went well for Rathore. He won the toss and put the opposition into bat. Then his bowlers struck at regular intervals. And his own batting prowess too did not fail him. He sent the South bowlers on a leather hunt forcing Azharuddin to change bowlers frequently. But nothing could hold Rathore who was harsh on every bowler. He made a feast of MP Singh who replaced T Kumaran, hitting him for eight boundaries in his three-over first spell. His 50 included 10 hits to the fence. And 42 balls later, he had notched up his hundred. At the other end, Ashu Dani played second fiddle leaving Rathore to destroy the bowling figures of the opponents.

In 15 overs, the score had crossed the 100-mark. Dani who looked set for a half-century misread seamer S Mahesh’s incutter and the ball ballooned to MP Singh at deep mid-wicket, bringing to an end the firstwicket partnership. But by then, the two had mauled the rival bowlers in their 136-run partnership.

And with the asking rate well within manageable limits, Ajay Jadeja (60 not out) and Pankaj Dharmani (40) completed the final rites of the tie.

Scoreboard

South Zone
J Arunkumar c Manhas b Bhandari 14
R Paul c Dharmani b Bhandari 15
S Sriram c Jadeja b Sarandeep 12
M Azharuddin c Rathore b Bhandari 5
S Sharath run out 104
H Badani c Sarandeep b Jadeja 8
S Mahesh b Sehwag 48
Aashish Kapoor c Dahiya b Jadeja 12
Dodda Ganesh not out 27
T Kumaran not out 0
Extras (lb7, nb1, w25) 33
Total (for 8 wickets in 50 overs) 278
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-40, 3-52, 4-63, 5-76, 6-169, 7-200, 8-274.
Bowling: Bhandari 10-2-56-3, Robin Singh (Jr) 10-0-40-0, Jadeja 10-1-35-2, Sarandeep 10-0-58-1, Sanghvi 4-0-43-0, Sehwag 6-0-38-1.

North Zone
Ashu Dani c MP Singh b Mahesh 40
Vikram Rathore c Azhar b Badani 106
Ajay Jadeja not out 60
PankajDharmani b Kumaran 36
Virender Sehwag not out 11
Extras (nb16, w10) 26
Total (for 3 wickets in 44.4 overs) 279
Fall of wickets : 1-136, 2-182, 3-266
Bowling: Ganesh 8.4-0-45-0, Kumaran 10-0-59-1, MP Singh 7-0-58-0, S Mahesh 10-0-57-1, Aashish Kapoor 3-0-25-0, Badani 5-0-26-1, S Sriram 1-0-9-0.