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North Zone v West Zone, Deodhar Trophy, Visakhapatnam
Jaffer, Rohit star in West's massive win
Cricinfo staff
March 20, 2008
West Zone 241 (Rohit 78, Jaffer 64, Sehwag 4-17) beat North Zone 121 (Bhatia 35, Munaf 2-16, Abdulla 2-17) by 120 runs
Scorecard
North Zone wilted in their chase of 242 against West Zone, crashing to 121 inside 36 overs in Visakhapatnam. Wasim Jaffer and Rohit Sharma struck half-centuries for West, before the seamers dictated terms. Only three of North's specialist batsmen managed to get past double figures, with Rajat Bhatia top scoring with 35.
North had immediate success after choosing to field first as seamer Manpreet Gony sent back Yusuf Pathan in the first over before claiming Ajinkya Rahane in the seventh. Jaffer and Rohit combined to add a brisk 138 for the third wicket at just over five runs an over. A double-strike brought North back into the match as Jaffer fell for 64 to the legspinner Amit Mishra, and Rohit followed suit for 78, stumped off Bhatia. Rohit was the more aggressive of the pair - his 78 coming off 97 balls with nine fours and two sixes - while Jaffer's 64 came off 92 balls with seven fours.
The middle and lower order failed to build on after making starts as Sehwag and Gony chipped away at the wickets. Gony finished with 4 for 35 off ten overs while Sehwag managed his four-wicket haul in less than three.
Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel picked up early wickets to leave North at an embarrassing 2 for 3. Besides the partnership of 46 between Virat Kohli and Bhatia for the fifth wicket, there was no resistance to speak of as North lost wickets at regular intervals. Munaf dismissed Bhatia for 35 while Iqbal Abdulla and Abhishek Nayar took two wickets each to seal the deal.
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