Patel, Pathan power West to big victory

West Zone's Parthiv Patel en route his 35-ball 56 against North Zone at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday. Pic/SURESH KARKERA

West Zone defeated North Zone by eight wickets in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Inter-Zonal Twenty20 cricket tournament at Wankhede Stadium here yesterday.

For West Zone, Shreyas Iyer (30) and skipper Parthiv Patel (56) were the top scorers.

For North Zone, Mohit Sharma and Parveez Rasool chipped in with one wicket each.

West Zone pacer Irfan Pathan celebrates after dismissing North Zone opener Shikhar Dhawan yesterday. Pathan took 3-10. Pic/SURESH KARKERA

Chasing 108, Iyer and Patel built a match-winning 80-run first-wicket partnership before Iyer was adjudged LBW in the ninth over off spinner Rasool. Two over later, Patel was sent packing by pacer Sharma with just 16 runs needed to win. Patel's 35-ball knock was laced with nine boundaries. New batsmen Aditya Tare (14 not out) and Ankit Bawne (four) then completed the formalities to hand West Zone a comfortable victory with 44 balls remaining.

Earlier, put in to bat, North scored 107/8 in their allotted 20 overs with veteran batsman Gautam Gambhir scoring 60 runs. For the West Zone, Irfan Pathan took 3-10.