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Wednesday, Feb 02, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

North outplays West

By Our Special Correspondent

BARODA, FEB. 1. North Zone outplayed West Zone in a crucial Deodhar Trophy match by 87 runs and took the top position in the table with 10 points from three games. Stung by the loss in its previous game, Virender Sehwag's team bowled out the rivals for 201 to gain four points, plus one bonus, at the IPCL stadium here on Monday.

Part-time spinner Dinesh Mongia took three wickets in an astonishing spell to punch holes in West's assault on 288 runs amassed by North. Harbhajan Singh and Mithun Manhas lent a hand with two vital run-outs to send back the in-form Parthiv Patel and Ajit Agarkar respectively. Inspired by his fielders, Mongia came up with a diving catch on his follow-through to dismiss Niraj Patel.

The outcome leaves the event wide open, with West slipping to second position (nine points, three games) due to negative bonus point. North will take on South in the concluding league match. West has a match in hand against Central.

Agarkar, opting to field after winning the toss, saw Sehwag edging Zaheer Khan into the slips off the first ball he faced. Gautam Gambhir's 59 off 73 deliveries and Yuvraj Singh's 74 (72 balls) set up the launch pad for Ajay Jadeja (54 off 64, three fours, one six) to milk the West attack with young wicket-keeper M.S. Bisla giving him company.

West appeared in control as long as Parthiv Patel (56 off 61 balls), promoted to No. 3, was at the crease. Once the left-hander was run out around the 25th over, North's spinners Mongia and Harbhajan (two for 30) did the rest with some quality bowling, backed by tight fielding.

Dhoni stars in East's win

PTI reports: At Rajkot, wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a blistering knock of 87 (68b, 13x4, 1x6) to steer East Zone to a four-wicket win over Central Zone. Rohan Gavaskar (89 n.o., 79b, 9x4, 1x6) and Laxmi Ratan Shukla (60, 58b, 6x4) also chipped in as East successfully overhauled Central's tall score with an over to spare by making 348 for six.

Earlier, Central's Suresh Raina (129, 104b, 14x4, 4x6) and Abbas Ali (100, 103b, 12x4, 1x6) guided their side to an imposing 346 for eight in 50 overs.

East Zone, which had minus 2 points in its kitty before the match, secured four points to take its overall points to plus 2 at the end of their league engagements.

The scores:

North Zone: G. Gambhir c Agarkar b Muzumdar 59, V. Sehwag c Pathan b Zaheer 0, M. Manhas b Zaheer 20, D. Mongia b Zaheer 12, Y. Singh lbw b Khirid 74, A. Jadeja c sub (Akash) b Agarkar 54, M.S. Bisla (run out) 30, J. Sharma (run out) 10, H. Singh b Zaheer 9, A. Nehra (not out) 0, A. Bhandari (did not bat). Extras (lb-4, nb-9, b-7) 20. Total (in 50 overs): 288 for nine.

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-58, 3-82, 4-156, 5-196, 6-266, 7-269, 8-288, 9-288.

West bowling: Zaheer 10-0-47-3, Agarkar 10-0-65-1, Khirid 10-0-43-2, Yusuf Pathan 10-1-49-0, Muzumdar 2-0-11-1, Pawar 6-0-47-0, Niraj Patel 2-0-22-0.

West Zone: D. Jadhav c Yuvraj b Bhandari 20, S. Parab b Sharma 28, P. Patel (run out) 56, V. Mane b Mongia 32, N. Patel c & b Mongia 27, A. Muzumdar lbw b Harbhajan 2, A. Agarkar (run out) 4, R. Khirid b Mongia 4, Y. Pathan b Harbhajan 0, R. Pawar (not out) 5. Zaheer lbw b Sehwag 7. Extras (b-1, lb-7, nb-5, w-3) 16. Total (42.5 overs) 201.

Fall of wkts: 1-38, 2-100, 3-139, 4-160, 5-172, 6-179, 7-186, 8-188, 9-190.

North bowling: Bhandari 7-0-39-1, Sharma 5-0-33-1, Harbhajan 10-0-30-2, Mongia 10-0-43-3, Sehwag 5.5-0-24-1.

At Rajkot: Central Zone: 346 for eight in 50 overs (Suresh Raina 129, Abbas Ali 100, J.P. Yadav 43) lost to East Zone: 348 for six in 49 overs (M. Dhoni 87, R. Gavaskar 89, L.R. Shukla 60).

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