da fezbet： Chasing a victory target of 306 and winning with almost ten overs tospare
da dobrowin： Partab Ramchand19-Jan-2000Chasing a victory target of 306 and winning with almost ten overs tospare. That’s the incredible feat that East Zone pulled off on theopening day of the Deodhar Trophy tournament at Baroda onWednesday. When favourites Central Zone led off with 305 for seven in50 overs, few would have given East Zone a chance of winning. But anunbeaten fourth wicket partnership of 175 runs between opener NikhilHaldipur and Saba Karim, both of whom got breezy hundreds, saw EastZone race to victory for the loss of only three wickets and with 9.5overs to spare.The batsmen had things their own way from start to finish. The factthat 614 runs were scored off 90.1 overs, with three hundreds beingnotched up while only 10 wickets fell illustrates the dominance of thebat over ball. The knocks by Karim and Haldipur, their hecticpartnership and East Zone’s remarkable victory put into the shade thesuperb century of Jai P Yadav in the morning.Opting to bat, Central lost the in form Jyoti Yadav quickly when hewas bowled by Zaman for eight. But Gagan Khoda and Jai P Yadavsteadied the innings with a second wicket partnership of 99 runs off18.3 overs. Khoda was content to play second fiddle as Yadav blazedforth with bold strokes. After Khoda’s departure for 40, Yadav andAmay Khurasia then maintained the momentum with a third wicket standof 110 runs off 18.1 overs. Again Yadav dominated the partnership andwas well past his hundred when Khurasia gave a return catch to UtpalChatterjee for 39. The veteran Bengal left arm spinner then dismissedYadav in his next over. Yadav’s brilliant 128 was compiled off just117 balls and he hit 17 fours and two sixes.The sparkle was maintained by a bright 45 by D Bundela. He faced only27 balls and hit two fours and three sixes. With skipper GyanendraPandey, he gave the innings a final flourish by adding 46 runs for thesixth wicket off only five overs. The East Zone skipper Chatterjeewas the one bowler to stand up to the punishment and was rewarded withfour for 53 off ten overs.The East Zone innings was a riot of runs from the start. OpenersHaldipur and SS Das hammered 107 runs off the first ten overs beforethe latter was run out for 49 off 37 balls. He hit seven fours and asix. After this explosive start, East Zone faltered with RohanGavaskar being run out for five and P Mullick being dismissed forseven. At 134 for three, the innings had lost the momentum butHaldipur and Karim wasted little time in putting East Zone back ontrack. The medium pacers Sodhi and Zaidi were harshly treated and thespinners fared little better. Even the inform Kartik Murali went for71 runs off ten overs. Haldipur and Karim just did what they likedwith the bowling and there was never a chance of even a single maidenover. Ultimately Haldipur remained unbeaten with 127 off 111 ballswith 14 hits to the ropes and Karim was not out with 102 off 89deliveries with the help of ten fours and two sixes. The winningstroke was hit by Karim – a four off Abbas Ali which took him past hishundred.
