Skipper Wasim Jaffer starred with a hundred as West Zone clinched their ninth Deodhar Trophy title, outplaying East Zone by 218 runs in the finals of the Zonal One-Dayers here today.
Skipper Wasim Jaffer starred with a hundred as West Zone clinched their ninth Deodhar Trophy title, outplaying East Zone by 218 runs in the finals of the Zonal One-Dayers here today.
Electing to bat, Jaffer's 108-ball 116 and Cheteshwar Pujara's 86-ball 94 to set the foundation for West Zone's record 362 total.
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In reply, East Zone crumbled to 144 in 39.4 overs. Ravindra Jadeja (61 not out) and Abhishek Nayar (54 not out) blew away the struggling East attack, hitting 99 runs in the last seven overs.
The East Zone, who made a surprise move this morning opting to play with an extra batsman (Haladhar Das), clearly missed a fifth back-up bowler. Made to bowl six overs, skipper Manoj Tiwary conceded 68 runs at a rate of 11.33, while Deepak Sharma gave away 37 runs from his five overs.
Having led the side in Mumbai's 38th Ranji Trophy triumph this season, Jaffer anchored the West innings to perfection especially after their top order failed to give them a decent start. Openers Parthiv Patel (12) and Ajinkya Rahane (2) departed quickly with the team's score at 40 for two in 8.1 overs.
Rakesh Solanki, who replaced Bhavik Thaker, were also dismissed in quick succession and it was left to the experienced pair of Jaffer and Pujara to do the repair work.
Jaffer, who is the leading run-getter this Ranji season, got good support from Pujara, who is incidentally the third highest-run scorer this season.
Having been dropped twice -- while he was on 25 and 49 -- Jaffer prospered with each delivery and went on to complete his half-century in 41 balls.
The former India opener first got a life when he was dropped by Wriddhiman Saha of Ranadeb Bose's bowling early in ninth over. One run shy of his half-century, Jaffer got another breather when he was dropped by Dhiraj Goswami from his own bowling.
Jaffer-Pujara made 158 runs for the fourth wicket as the former India opener notched his sixth List A century in 95 balls. Jaffer milked the East bowlers at ease and found runs in every corner of the stadium.
The Mumbai captain hit 15 fours and one six as East sorely missed a back-up bowler. Pujara was a shade quicker than Jaffer and went on to hit two sixes and seven fours.
After Jaffer's departure, Jadeja and Nayar left the East bowlers scurrying for cover. The East bowlers ended up conceding 113 runs in the last 10 overs.
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