Keen contest as Deodhar Trophy enters `home stretch'
On the eve of the Deodhar Trophy tournament, I had predicted that with the teams so evenly matched, winner spotting would be hazardous
Partab Ramchand
27-Jan-2000
On the eve of the Deodhar Trophy tournament, I had predicted that with
the teams so evenly matched, winner spotting would be hazardous. With
the tournament just over the halfway mark, the fact that four of the
five competing sides have a chance to win the title is indicative of
the close tussle for honours.
With six matches over and four to go, North Zone, West Zone, Central
Zone and South Zone are all in with seemingly equal chances of taking
the trophy. Only East Zone would appear to have very little hope of
emerging champions. Ironically, it was East Zone which started in real
rip roaring style, with one of the most remarkable wins in the history
of the tournament, which dates back to 1973. Chasing an imposing
Central Zone total of 305 for 7 off 50 overs, East Zone raced to
victory for the loss of only three wickets off just 40.1 overs. The
stars were Saba Karim (102) and Nikhil Haldipur (127) who shared an
unbroken fourth wicket partnership of 175 runs to steer East Zone to a
totally unexpected victory.
However, following this outstanding performance, East Zone have
faltered considerably. They lost to North Zone by seven wickets after
being able to muster only 166 in 44.5 overs in the only match in the
competition where the ball has dominated. Then they went down by eight
wickets to South Zone with the bowlers badly letting down the batsmen
who ran up a challenging score of 275 for 7. Their last match is
against West Zone on Friday and even a victory against that strong
team may not be enough to keep them in running for the title.
That leaves the four other teams in the hunt for the trophy. North
Zone seemed to be the front runners when they won their first two
games against West Zone and East Zone. The performances in these games
showed that both their batting and bowling were strong and they seemed
to be a well balanced side. But the unexpected reverse at the hands of
Central Zone on Tuesday has changed the equations considerably. They
now have only one more match left to play against South Zone on
January 31 and with three other teams breathing down their necks, it
is a must win situation for North Zone. And against South Zone, it is
anything but a cinch.
The three other teams, West Zone, Central Zone and South Zone all have
similar records. They have won one, lost one and have two games each
to play. West Zone after going down fighting to North Zone bounced
back to defeat South Zone in a high scoring contest. Batting is
clearly their forte and Vinod Kambli has proved that around the
domestic circuit at least, he is verily the monarach of any bowling
attack he surveys. He has got hundreds in both the games and with
another century maker Amol Muzumdar put on 226 runs for the third
wicket against South Zone, a match they won after chasing a total of
317.
Central, despite looking to be a well balanced side, could not defend
a total of 305 for 7 and lost badly to East Zone. But they came back
into the reckoning with a shock three wicket victory over North Zone.
In much the same way, South Zone, after going down to West Zone,
shrugged off this reverse by comfortably getting the better of East
Zone by eight wickets. Their star has been the Karnataka opening
batsman J Arun Kumar who has got hundreds in both the games.
Friday's games between West and East and South and Central will give
further indication as to which way the trophy will go but the keen
contest means that the champions will be crowned only on the final day
of the competition, January 31, when the games between South Zone and
North Zone and West Zone and Central Zone will be played.