West consolidate their position

Sensational batting displays by Wasim Jaffer, Yusuf Pathan and Ramesh Powar saw West Zone register a comfortable seven-wicket win...

Sensational batting displays by Wasim Jaffer, Yusuf Pathan and Ramesh Powar saw West Zone register a comfortable seven-wicket win over North Zone and accumulate five points including a bonus point in the league match of the Deodhar Trophy, played at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday.

With this triumph, West Zone have 14 points from three matches and are hot favourite to lift the title. On the other hand, North Zone now have four points from two games. Chasing a competitive total of 253 runs, West Zone got a solid start as openers Jaffer 63 and Yusuf Pathan 68 added 135 runs for the first wicket.

The stylish right-hander Jaffer initially took time to play his shots while Pathan hammered two consecutive boundaries off VRV Singh in his first two balls.

Pathan slammed a quick 68 off 58 balls which saw 11 boundaries, and was let off thrice on 25, 68 and 64. After Pathan8217;s departure, who was caught and bowled by offie Sarandeep Singh, Ramesh Powar, who was promoted as a pinch-hitter cracked 40 in 27 balls which saw eight fours and a six.

Powar also added 56 runs with Jaffer and after they went in quick succession, skipper Amol Muzumdar 28 n.o. and Rohit Sharma 24 n.o. ensured that they reached the target in 35.2 overs without losing any further wickets.

Earlier, fine batting performances from veteran batsman Pankaj Dharmani 77 n.o. and Vipul Sharma 56 n.o. propped North Zone to post a competitive total of 252 after struggling at 90 for 5 at one stage. Dharmani first put on 65 runs for the sixth wicket with Joginder Sharma 36 and later was also involved in a 97 run-partnership with Vipul Sharma that came in just 81 balls.

North, who won the toss and opted to bat first, lost early wickets of opener Karan Goel 0 and Gautam Gambhir 7 to medium-pacers Rakesh Patel and Siddharth Trivedi. With skipper Dinesh Mongia and Shikhar Dhawan playing sensibly, North Zone seemed to recover marginally.

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However, medium-pacer Abhishek Nayar, who is turning out to be developing a knack for important breakthroughs, got the most important wicket of Mongia 41 in his first over. At the score of 62 for 2, Mongia tried to play over mid-off and was caught after a thick edge to Parthiv Patel off Nayar.

The situation got even worse for the visitors as Dhawan 20 was trapped plumb while trying to reverse sweep off offie Ramesh Powar.

Brief Scores: North Zone 252 for 6 in 50 overs D Mongia 41, P Dharmani 77 not out, V Sharma 56 not out; Ramesh Powar 2 for 40 lost to West Zone 253 for 3 in 35.2 overs W Jaffer 63, Y Pathan 68, R Powar 40 by seven wickets.