East, West set up Deodhar Trophy final match

East Zone survived Central Zone’s late fight back to register a thrilling 18-run victory in the last Group-A league match of the 36th Deodhar Trophy Cricket Tournament at Ravenshaw University ground in Cuttack today. With this win, their second in a row, the young and spirited East Zone set up Wednesday’s summit clash with experienced West Zone, who thrashed Zimbabwe President’s XI by six wickets in another league match of the day. Chasing 258 for victory, Central Zone were off to a disastrous start, losing six wickets for 69. But a defiant knock of 93 (96b, 4x5, 6x3) by Piyush Chawla and his 138-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Bhuvneswar Kumar (72 off 88 balls, 4x6, 6x1) helped the side bounce back into the match. Earlier put into bat by Central skipper Mohammad Kaif, East compiled a healthy total of 257 for seven, thanks to a fine half-century by Wriddhiman Saha (69 off 76 balls, 4x8, 6x1) and his 99-run opening wicket stand with Orissa youngster Natraj Behera (28). The match was reduced to 48 overs due to a delayed start. SCOREBOARD EAST ZONE 257/7 in 48 oers (Wriddhiman Saha 69, Natraj Behera 28, Ishank Jaggi 48, Saurabh Tiwary 40: Pankaj Singh 2/66, Murali Kartik 2/21) beat CENTRAL ZONE 239/10 in 47.4 overs (Bhuvneswar Kumar 72, Piyush Chawla 93: Ranadeb Bose 3/46, Ashok Dinda 2/46, Dhiraj Goswami 2/33). WEST ZONE TROUNCE ZIMBABWE: Saurashtra batsman Cheteswar Pujara’s unbeaten half-century and a three-wicket haul by Mumbai left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah spurred eight-time champions West Zone to an easy victory over Zimbabwe XI in the last Group-B match at Barabati Stadium here. With this win West secured five points, including one bonus point and topped the group table with 10 points from two matches. The Zimbabwe side, which is now undergoing a rebuilding process, returned home empty handed, losing both the matches they played in the tournament as new entrants. Electing to bat on a slow wicket, Zimbabwe struggled against a tidy West attack and were restricted to 176 for nine. The highlight of the innings was a 75-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Stuwart Matsikeneyri and Regis Chakabva. The former emerged as the top scorer with 74-ball 44, which included just one hit to the rope. Abdullah tormented the opposition batsmen with his nagging line and length and returned with three wickets for 28 runs. Chasing the modest target, West banked on Pujara’s seventh half-century in List-A cricket to romp home in 38.1 overs. The Saurashtra batsman’s unbeaten 53 (100b, 4x6) carried him to 31 short of 1,000 runs in List-A games. SCOREBOARD ZIMBABWE PRESIDENT XI 176/9 in 47.4 overs (Stewart Matsikeneyri 44, Regis Chakabva 30: Siddharth Trivedi 2/34, Iqbal Abdullah 2/28, Ravindra Jadeja 2/27) lost to WEST ZONE 177/4 in 38.1 overs, Ajinkya Rahane 41, Cheteswar Pujara 53 n.o).