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Central bowlers sink West

Principal Correspondent

Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla scalp three each

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

INCISIVE SPELL: Central Zone’s Praveen Kumar (centre) is being greeted by teammates after taking a wicket in their match against West Zone on Friday.

Bangalore: The match was practically over in the first hour. Under low-slung clouds and with a hint of dampness in the air, Central Zone bowlers Praveen Kumar (three for 18), R.P. Singh and Sandeep Singh struck in tandem on a seaming track to reduce West Zone to 39 for five in 11.1 overs.

The defending champion never recovered and mustered 98 in 29.1 overs, which proved easy fodder for Central in the Prof. D.B. Deodhar Trophy match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday.

Bonus points

Central won by six wickets in 20.1 overs and garnered the full quota of five points, inclusive of a bonus point while West got a negative point (-1) for having conceded the bonus point.

Central captain Mohd. Kaif opted to field and found immediate vindication as he snapped up rival skipper Wasim Jaffer’s snick off Praveen Kumar.

R.P. Singh meanwhile struck from the BEML end, trapping Yusuf Pathan. Praveen then switched ends, moved over to the BEML end and scalped A. Rahane and Parthiv Patel.

Rohit Sharma too failed as he flashed hard at Sandeep Singh and a diving wicket-keeper Naman Ojha caught the flier, just in front of first slip.

R.P. Singh, on a comeback trail from injury, bowled well and hustled the tentative batsmen, who were not sure about putting their front foot forward on a seaming track.

And after succumbing to a touch of seam and swing, West batsmen also crumbled against spin as left-arm spinner Murali Kartik (two for 20) and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (three for 11) shared the spoils though Abhishek Nayar (39) offered some resistance.

Later, Central Zone cruised on openers Faiz Fazal and Naman Ojha’s 41-run partnership before losing four wickets to some indiscreet shots though Ojha was unlucky as Munaf’s right heel did graze the boundary line while taking his catch and Kaif was caught by surprise as Agarkar dug in one short to catch the bat’s splice.

However, the target was too meagre to set alarm bells ringing and Himalaya Sagar and Rohit Sharma ensured that Central won with ease.

In the next round of matches on March 17, Central will play against North here while West will take on East at Hyderabad.

The scores:

West Zone: Yusuf Pathan lbw b R.P. Singh 3, Wasim Jaffer c Kaif b Praveen Kumar 8, A. Rahane c Piyush Chawla b Praveen Kumar 10, Rohit Sharma c N. Ojha b Sandeep Singh 7, Parthiv Patel c Rohit Sharma b Praveen Kumar 0, Venugopala Rao b Piyush Chawla 9, Abhishek Nayar c Praveen Kumar b Piyush Chawla 39, I. Abdulla c N. Ojha b Piyush Chawla 2, A. Agarkar lbw b Murali Kartik 0, Munaf Patel c R.P. Singh b Murali Kartik 1, Siddharth Trivedi (not out) 6; Extras (lb-6, nb-1, w-6): 13; Total (in 29.1 overs): 98.

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-15, 3-39, 4-39, 5-39, 6-70, 7-72, 8-73, 9-81.

Central Zone bowling: Praveen Kumar 7-1-18-3, R.P. Singh 8-0-22-1, Sandeep Singh 7-2-21-1, Murali Kartik 4-0-20-2, Piyush Chawla 3.1-0-11-3.

Central Zone: Faiz Fazal c Wasim Jaffer b Siddharth Trivedi 24, Naman Ojha c Munaf Patel b Agarkar 25, S. Raina c Agarkar b Trivedi 18, Himalaya Sagar (not out) 7, Mohd. Kaif c Jaffer b Agarkar 8, Rohit Sharma (not out) 2. Extras (lb-2, w-13) 15; Total (for four wkts. in 20.1 overs): 99.

Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-75, 3-81, 4-94.

West Zone bowling: Munaf Patel 5-0-21-0, A. Agarkar 7.1-0-35-2, S. Trivedi 8-0-41-2.

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