Utkarsh Singh’s 104-ball 89 (11x4, 3x6) led East Zone’s six-wicket demolition of Central Zone in a Deodhar Trophy fixture at the Cricket Association of Puducherry (CAP) Ground 3 here on Monday.
The left-hander’s knock made short work of the 208-run target after Shahbaz Ahmed, Akash Deep and Murasingh picked up three wickets apiece to bundle out Central.
Utkarsh was off the blocks with a hint of streakiness as he slashed hard outside off and collected boundaries off the edges. Meanwhile, Abhimanyu Easwaran was slow to start but soon preyed on the pacers’ fuller deliveries while Utkarsh pounced on the shorter stuff.
Karn Sharma hit back with two quick wickets, but Central’s celebrations were understandably subdued. Subhransu Senapati’s stodgy unbeaten 65-ball 33 only delayed the inevitable as East sailed home with 23 balls to spare.
Earlier, Rinku Singh’s level-headed approach (54, 63b, 1x4, 2x6) was bookended by his teammates’ meltdowns. After East elected to field, its pacers capitalised on the overcast conditions. The first 10 overs yielded 26 runs as openers Madhav Kaushik and Aryan Juyal batted with caution bordering paranoia.
It didn’t help Central’s cause that Juyal, who looked the more assured of the two, retired hurt after trying to steal a quick single in the 12th over. Kaushik’s 47-ball 13-run vigil ended when he edged behind trying to cut a Shahbaz delivery.
Skipper Venkatesh Iyer became Shahbaz’s second victim when he was trapped leg-before playing off the backfoot.
Karn mounted a 58-run defiance with Rinku as the left-handed duo found the gaps and pinched the ones and twos off the spinners.
Rinku’s first scoring shot was a flat-batted swat to long-off, reminiscent of the fifth six in that fabled 31-run last over in IPL 2023. However, he reined himself in and struck a solitary four and a couple of sixes on his way to a 65-ball half-century, which would have impressed national selectors Shiv Sunder Das and Subroto Banerjee, who were in attendance.
Eventually, a delivery from Murasingh kept low and had him leg-before as Central lost its last six wickets for 35 runs, with Akash and Murasingh inflicting damage with their variations.
Panchal powers West
In another match, Priyank Panchal’s unbeaten 99 and Harvik Desai’s 85 powered West to a nine-wicket win over North East.
The scores:
Central Zone 207 in 50 overs (Aryan Juyal 39 n.o., Rinku Singh 54, Karn Sharma 32, Murasingh 3/29, Akash Deep 3/35, Shahbaz 3/30) lost to East Zone 208/4 in 46.1 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 38, Utkarsh Singh 89, Subhransu Senapati 33 n.o., Karn Sharma 3/35). Toss: East.
North East Zone 207 in 47 overs (Langlonyamba 30, Imliwati 38; A. Nagwaswalla 3/31) lost to West Zone 208/1 in 25.1 overs (Harvik Desai 85, Priyank Panchal 99 n.o.).
