South Zone bounce back

South Zone, which had lost to North Zone on the opening day on Sunday, bounced right back into contention in the CK Nayudu Trophy (under-19) inter zonal tournament in Chennai on Monday with a 55-run victory over Central Zone at the Southern Railway grounds.

Put in to bat, South Zone made a shocking start losing three wickets for 19 in nine overs. But thereafter it was South Zone all the way. Skipper YV Rao and NA Yadav got entrenched in a fourth wicket association which added 170 runs off 34.3 overs. Yadav, who dominated the partnership, was out for exactly 100 for which he batted only 137 minutes. He faced just 86 balls and hit six fours and four sixes. Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan (13) then helped his skipper to add 41 runs for the fourth wicket off just 3.5 overs. In the last couple of overs, Rao really went for the bowling and at the end of the 50 overs, when South Zone had recovered to post a total of 257 for five, the skipper was unbeaten with 107. He batted 174 minutes, faced 147 balls and hit five fours and two sixes.

Central Zone, who had defeated East Zone on Sunday, lost wickets at regular intervals and never really had a chance of getting anywhere the tough target. There was no long partnership, only two stands of 31 for the seventh and last wickets. Opener AV Deshpande scored a gallant 55 before he was sixth out at 131. He faced 99 balls and hit only one four. Left arm spinner Vidyuth was the most successful bowler with three for 38 as Central Zone were all out for 202 in 46.5 overs.

At the Guru Nanak college grounds, the Duckworth-Lewis method came into the picture as West Zone defeated East Zone by six wickets. Put in to bat, East Zone were all out for 93 runs in 40.4 overs. They made a bad start losing three wickets for 19. MS Dhoni, who top scored with 32 off 82 balls with a four and a six and A Hashmi (14) added 41 runs for the fourth wicket in 16.4 overs. But then there was another slump and the last seven East Zone wickets fell for the addition of only 33 runs.

It had rained for about 50 minutes midway through the East Zone innings reducing it to 46 overs instead of the allotted 50 overs. Shortly after West Zone commenced their innings, rain again interrupted play for 25 minutes. The West Zone target was revised to 80 in 40 overs using the Duckworth Lewis method. An opening partnership of 41 runs in 13.4 overs between RA Parab (18) and PP Joshi (25) put West Zone firmly on their way but then four wickets fell for nine runs in 4.5 overs. However skipper NK Patel and KD Laghate, who each remained unbeaten with 14, added 31 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket to steer West home in their first outing in the tournament.