Deodhar Trophy: Abhimanyu Easwaran’s hundred powers East Zone to eight-wicket victory

Abhimanyu Easwaran and Riyan Parag combined their powers to give East Zone a facile eight-wicket win over North East Zone

Puducherry: Century-maker Abhimanyu Easwaran and Riyan Parag combined their powers to give East Zone a facile eight-wicket win over North East Zone in the Deodhar Trophy here on Wednesday.

East Zone decided to bat first and the bowlers, led by Parag, vindicated the call, bundling out North East for 169.

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The total was not strong enough to even stretch East and Abhimanyu powered his way to an unbeaten 100 (102 balls, 13×4) as they chased the target in just 31.3 overs.

It was Abhimanyu’s eighth List A hundred. This was East’s second win in as many matches. They are now second on the points table with 8 points.

South Zone also have 8 points but they top the chart owing to a better net run rate (2.526). East Zone have a NRR of 1.107.

Bengal opener Abhimanyu scored on all parts of the field and was particularly severe on Sikkim off-spinner Lee Yong Lepcha.

Abhimanyu plundered 21 runs off 11 balls, including three fours, off Lepcha. However, he can draw some consolation from the two wickets he grabbed in the match – Utkarsh Singh and Parag.

Once Abhimanyu and his opening partner Utkarsh made 93 runs in 19.3 overs, the course of the match was decided.

Parag was dismissed cheaply for 13 in the 22nd over, but that only boosted East’s desire to step on the pedal and boost their net run rate.

Abhimanyu and Virat Singh amassed 61 runs for the unbeaten third wicket in just over nine overs.
Earlier, Parag, whose niche area is hard-hitting, took four wickets with his leg spin.

Parag’s four for 30 ensured that North East never really gained any momentum in their innings.

The lone point of steadiness for North East was a 55-run partnership between Rex Rajkumar Singh (65, 74 balls, 10×4) and Lepcha for the eighth wicket.

It lifted North East from a lowly 82 for 7 to a more respectable total, but a vastly insufficient one.

Brief scores: North East Zone: 169 all out in 48 overs (Rex Rajkumar Singh 65 not out; Riyan Parag 4/30, Mukhtar Hussain 2/20) lost to East Zone: 170/2 in 31.3 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 100 not out, Utkarsh Singh 29; Lee Yong Lepcha 2/34) by 8 wickets.