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Jadeja stars in North's victory

Ajay Jadeja hit a sparkling 91 off 90 balls, bagged a wicket and effected two vital run-outs as North Zone defeated West Zone by 29 runs in a high scoring Deodhar Trophy limited-overs match at Rajkot yesterday.

Batting first, North scored 312 for eight in 50 overs thanks to a Jadeja's quickfire knock. In reply West, despite a splendid century by Vinod Kambli, could manage just 283 for nine in 50 overs.

North lost Ashu Dani early, but skipper Vikram Rathour and Jadeja steadied the innings by adding 57 runs for the second wicket off 10.5 overs. Then Jadeja and Pankaj Dharmani slammed 98 runs off 17.1 overs for the third wicket before the former was out. Dharmani was then joined by Virendra Sehwag. Together they put on a further 94 runs for the fourth wicket off 10.5 overs to give North a handsome total.

West Zone started their reply in dazzling fashion with openers Wasim Jaffer (21) and Sitanshu Kotak (28) scoring briskly as West began their reply. They put on 34 runs off 4.4 overs when Jaffer fell. Kambli then stepped in and dominated a second wicket stand of 81 runs off 18 overs with Sitanshu Kotak. After Kotak's departure, Kambli and Amol Muzumdar (42) maintained the momentum by adding 83 runs off 15.5 overs for the third wicket. At 198 for two in the 39th over, West Zone tooked like crusing home. But Jadeja showed how good his throwing arm is when he ran out Kambli and Muzumdar in successive overs to dash West's hopes.

Kambli scored 106 off 131 balls.

Robin Singh was North's most successful bowler, claiming three wickets for 53 runs.

Scoreboard