East Zone marched into the Deodhar Trophy final with a 52-run win over North Zone in the semi-final at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Dominating the North Zone bowling attack, captain Manoj Tiwary powered East Zone to 273/8 with a sparkling 151 off 121 balls to set up the game in his team’s favour. Striking at regular intervals their bowlers then wrapped-up the Yuvraj Singh-led team for 221 to claim victory.
Earlier, after the loss of two wickets with 32 runs on the board after being asked to bat, EZ was led to a competitive score by their captain. Coming in to bat at No.4 in the 12th over, Manoj anchored the innings with a determined knock before departing with three balls left in the innings.
First to return to the pavilion was opener Parviz Aziz who edged Rishi Dhawan to Yuvraj with just 10 runs on the board. Virat Singh who replaced him in the middle was fortunate to get a life as the opposition missed an opportunity to run him out while on zero. But before he could capitalise on the life afforded to him, the batsman was yorked for five by Vikas Tokas, who knocked back the No.3 bat’s off-stump and dislodged the bails.
The EZ captain then came to the crease and took charge of the innings. He took on the North Zone bowlers with gusto. Manoj slammed Parvez Rasool straight over the fence for six and sent him to the boundary through the off side to set the tone of the innings. He kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and twos interspersed with a boundary when the opportunity presented itself. His partnership with Shreevats Goswami helped the team rebuild after the early blows. However, with the stand on 60, the opener was caught at mid-wicket by Mandeep Singh off Amit Mishra for 43.
Saurabh Tiwary who then came out to the middle survived a tough chance as Gurkeerat Singh Maan dived to catch the ball but couldn’t hold on to it. But the batsman lasted to add just one run to his tally. He nicked Sandeep Sharma to the wicketkeeper, who took the catch above his head to the left to send back the middle-order batsman for 17.
Biplab Samantaray then joined the EZ captain during the batting powerplay and helped to take the team to 176 before holing out to Mann at long on off Yuvraj Singh for 10.
With Kumar Deobrat, the captain continued to carry the innings forward and soon reached his hundred off 93 balls with a single to long-off off Yuvraj. Scoring at a quick pace the pair had added 51 runs off 39 for the sixth wicket until Deobrat edged Rishi Dhawan to Nakul Verma behind wickets to return for 15.
While wickets fell at regular intervals at the other end, Manoj had dominated the North Zone bowlers and maintained an upper-hand. At 227/6 with over three overs left he was joined in the effort by Saurasish Lahiri. In the pen-ultimate over, Manoj struck Dhawan over mid-wicket for six but was caught by Mandeep off the next ball which turned out to be a no-ball. He claimed four off the free hit and sent the next past the keeper to the fence en route to collecting 16 off the over.
He followed up with a boundary and six over mid-wicket in the last over but was then caught by Yuvraj Singh as he looked for yet another big hit. With three balls remaining in the innings Manoj returned to the pavilion having played a captain’s knock. Lahiri then hit a six but was caught at deep mid-wicket off the next ball. Shahbaz Nadeem then added two off Sandeep Sharma on the last ball to close the innings.
On the third ball of the chase Manan Vohra edged Ashoke Dinda to Samantaray at first slip to depart with the team yet to open their account. Unmukt Chand followed him back eight runs later hitting Veerpratap Singh to Lahiri at third-man. At 8/2 Yuvraj made his way to the crease and departed after adding four to the total. The stand-in North Zone skipper edged Samantaray to the wicketkeeper and was replaced by Mann at the crease.
Mandeep and Mann then rallied on to add 74 for the fourth wicket. The blossoming partnership however ended with the top-order bat offering a simple catch to Samantaray off Lahiri for 40.
Dhawan then joined Mann in an effort to scale the target. Mann who was looking in good nick brought up his fifty with a boundary off Lahiri as the pair worked to keep the team in the fray. They gleaned runs off the EZ attack as they looked to keep the required run-rate within reach. Taking the batting powerplay in the 32nd over, they collected 35 runs from it. Nadeem brought back into the attack in the last over of the powerplay conceded only four of it as East Zone looked to plug the flow of runs.
As the stand took shape and looked to close in on the target, Mann was caught at deep mid-wicket by Samantaray for 83 off 99. With the end of a 71-run partnership Rasool joined Dhawan in the middle.
With NZ needing 100 off 66 balls it was left to both the all-rounders to keep the team in the reckoning. But, Rasool too departed holing out to deep mid-wicket off Lahiri.
But a little later Lahiri ended the HP all-rounder’s resistance to deal a vital blow. Facing an uphill task with the required run-rate climbing up Dhawan departed edging the bowler to the wicketkeeper. Amit Mishra was the next to be sent back by Nadeem. Dinda then accounted for Verma while Sandeep perished taking the aerial route off Manoj in the next over.
Scorecard 
