Rayudu anchors chase as West Zone beat North to win Deodhar Trophy

A professional batting performance by West Zone helped them clinch the Deodhar Trophy as they cruised to a comfortable five-wicket victory over North Zone in the final in Guwahati on Wednesday.

Put into bat, North Zone made a commendable 289 for eight in 50 overs courtesy Unmukt Chand's scratchy 88 and Yuvraj Singh's useful 67.

In reply, Ambati Rayudu anchored the chase with a well-made unbeaten 78 as West successfully reached the target in 48.2 overs.

It was skipper Parthiv Patel, who started the chase in right earnest hitting a 52-ball-58 while Kedar Jadhav chipped in with a punishing knock of 57 off only 43 deliveries. Young Manprit Juneja (56) also hit a half century as a collective effort by the batsmen was responsible in the title triumph.

North captain Gautam Gambhir's ploy of opening the bowling with young off-spinner Parveez Rasool worked partially as he got rid of Vijay Zol who was adjudged leg-before trying to play the sweep shot.

However Parthiv and Juneja added 84 runs for the second wicket in 14 overs. While Parthiv found the gaps with ease, hitting Rasool for three boundaries in an over, Juneja also looked solid as he punished the loose deliveries.

Parthiv hit eight fours and a six off a full-toss bowled by Yuvraj.

Juneja also got into the act as he hit five fours --three off Manpreet Gony and two off Rasool as the North bowlers leaked a lot of runs.

Parthiv was caught at mid-wicket off Amit Mishra's bowling but Juneja hit the leggie for a big six.

Mishra gave away 63 in 12 overs while Gony was blasted for 52 in six overs.

Yusuf Pathan (6) was dismissed by a well disguised short-pitched delivery from Siddharth Kaul but Jadhav and Rayudu took the match away from North.

The duo added 87 runs in 13.1 overs but more importantly found the fence with ease.

Jadhav initially took some time to settle down but as he grew in confidence, he started taking on the bowlers. Out of his eight boundaries, six were hit off pacers Gony and Parvinder Awana.

Earlier, Unmukt and Yuvraj added 120 runs for the third wicket partnership which enabled North reach a competitive total of 289 for eight. Unmukt's 88 came off 124 balls with seven fours and three huge sixes. However his innings wasn't a fluent one as he was very subdued in the initial part and was dropped twice as well.

Yuvraj, however was in much better touch as he hit 67 off 52 balls with seven fours and three sixes.

The middle-order batsman couldn't make any significant contribution but Rasool (32) and Gony (25) added 44 runs in four overs to take the total close to 300.