Report

Vidyut and Rao power South to big win

A round-up of the Deodhar Trophy matches that took place on March 3

Cricinfo staff
03-Mar-2006
S Vidyut and Venugopal Rao contributed fine hundreds to propel South Zone to a 80-run win over Central Zone in the Deodhar Trophy limited-overs league match at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur. Central were made to rue their decision to field first as Vidyut hit 158 from 123 deliveries and Rao an unbeaten 103 to take South to 327 for 4.
South had been given a jolt when Jai Prakash Yadav clean bowled Robin Uthappa (6) in the third over, but Vidyut and Rao steadied the ship with a 233-run association. In reply, Central could only score 247 as South's bowlers produced a good display. Ravikant Shukla, the Indian Under-19 captain, fought valiantly with 94 not-out and Abbas Ali chipped in with 73. Five of Central's batsmen were back in the pavilion with just 40 on the board before Shukla, in his maiden Deodhar Trophy match, offered resistance. Vinay Kumar (2 for 31) and Somasetty Suresh (2 for 37) rocked the top order while Rao backed up his fine innings with 2 for 47. South took five points from this win to make it nine from two matches so far, while Central remained with nothing to show from three matches.
Rohit Sharma hit an unbeaten 142 from 123 deliveries to take West Zone to an eight-wicket win over North Zone at the Maharanna Bhupal College Ground in Udaipur. Gautam Gambhir had earlier hit 109 out of North's total of 278 for 9 but Sharma's innings overshadowed his effort considerably, with West sealing the deal with more than five overs to spare. Jacob Martin (72*) lent valuable support to Sharma in their 184-run stand. Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan (65) put on 136 to get North off to a very good start but Ravindra Jadeja applied the skids, taking 4 for 28 with this left-arm spin. Munaf Patel, the start of the Indian Board President's XI's recent victory over an England XI, took 2 for 31. West now find themselves in a favourable position, leading the points table with eight.