Priyank Panchal-led West Zone will take on Saurabh Tiwary’s East Zone in what would be a virtual semifinal in a round five match of the Deodhar Trophy at the Cricket Association Puducherry Ground 2 on Tuesday.
West, powered by Shivam Dube and Kathan Patel’s unbroken 138-run stand, is coming off a dominating win over North. On the other hand, East lost to South in its previous encounter to set up a do-or-die encounter for a place in the final. Riyan Parag and Shahbaz Ahmed have been the most consistent performers for the East where the former has grown into an impactful all-rounder while the latter has been silently keeping things tight with his left-arm spin. Both have taken nine wickets each so far.
The duo has got good support from different players during different points of the tournament that has helped East win its first three games to have a better net run rate (0.914) than West’s 0.642 and be at second place in the table.
For West, left-arm spinner Shams Mulani and opener Harvik Desai have been the top performers so far. Mulani has picked nine wickets and has an economy of 3.75, making sure runs are dried up from his end. Desai has scored 209 runs at an average of 52.25 in four games.
Through the tournament, West has been challenged and has come out on top on several occasions, while East has dominated most of its games. The match will be an interesting battle between two equally good sides who will be fighting hard for a place in the final to play South – the only team that has defeated both these sides.
