Riyan Parag’s astonishing century (131, 102b, 4x4, 11x6) and four wickets scripted an 88-run win for East Zone against North in Deodhar Trophy at the CAP ground 3 here on Friday.
Where most East batters looked tentative against bounce, Parag negotiated it with ease, playing close to his body. Using the crease to great effect, Parag clobbered 11 sixes to break Yusuf Pathan’s 13-year-old record of most sixes in an innings in the tournament.
With back-to-back sixes against Mayank Markande, Parag got to his fifty in just 38 deliveries.
Parag then bullied the pacers to reach his century in 84-deliveries. In the 44th over, Parag smacked three sixes on the trot against Sandeep Sharma, the third being a cross-bat, tennis-like forehand swat down the ground.
Kumar Kushagra complemented Parag well. Kushagra began cautiously, but swiftly changed gears in the death overs. The pair got together with East five down at 57 and combined for 235 runs to propel the team to 337 for eight.
The pair fell in the space of three deliveries to Mayank Yadav, trying to slash on the off side. Manisankar Murasingh and Shahbaz Ahmed added 42 runs for the eighth wicket to pile on North’s misery.
In reply, North was jolted early when Prabhsimran Singh lobbed a square drive straight to point. Himanshu Rana and Abhishek Sharma, however, chipped away and kept North in the hunt.
Their 82-run association was ended by Parag who had Himanshu (40) holing out to deep square-leg and Abhishek fell shortly after on 44.
Nitish Rana looked fluent for the most part, but was guilty of a heedless shot. An attempt at reverse sweeping Shahbaz Ahmed proved fatal as the top edge flew to short third man.
Mandeep Singh anchored the innings and brought up his fifty off 51 deliveries, while Shubham Rohilla provided impetus with his counter-punching stroke play.
Parag then got rid of Mandeep, to cut short a threatening North partnership for the second time. He prised out two more, and with Shahbaz Ahmed, wrapped up the tail.
The scores: East Zone 337/8 (Riyan Parag 131, Kumar Kushagra 98, Mayank Yadav 4/63) bt North Zone 249 (Abhishek Sharma 44, Mandeep Singh 50, Riyan Parag 4/57).
