Deodhar Trophy 2023: Riyan Parag ton, Murasingh fifer help East Zone beat West to reach final

East Zone, powered by Riyan Parag’s century and Manisankar Murasingh’s fifer, defeated West Zone by 157 runs within the fifth-round match – a digital semifinal – of the Deodhar Trophy, at CAP 2 floor on Tuesday to affix South Zone within the summit conflict.

Murasingh ran via the top-order in his opening spell to utterly push West on the backfoot and assume management.

He obtained good assist from the remainder of the bowlers to complete the sport in 34 overs as West, chasing the goal of 320, obtained bowled out for 162.

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Opting to bat, East openers Abhimanyu Easwaran and Utkarsh Singh began on a strong be aware with backfoot play. They discovered boundaries at common intervals whereas additionally driving a little bit of luck, thanks to 2 dropped catches by wicketkeeper Harvik Desai. 

However, Easwaran’s keep was reduce quick by Arzan Nagwaswalla, who had him caught behind with a bouncer. 

Virat Singh, who got here in at quantity three, hit a reduce for 4 early in his 52-ball 42. His 64-run stand with Utkarsh gave East the higher hand earlier than the West spinners started drying up the runs.

Utkarsh obtained out on 50, and inside the subsequent 10 overs, East misplaced three extra wickets – Virat, Rishav Das, and skipper Saurabh Tiwary. 

Riyan Parag, who walked at six, started with mushy backfoot punches. He, together with Kumar Kushagra, stored the scoreboard ticking singles and the occasional double earlier than breaking free in opposition to Sarfaraz Khan within the thirty ninth over. 

Parag scored his first boundary after going through 26 balls. Kushagra, too, started coming down the observe to seek out fast runs and smacked 4 sixes as he ended up scoring 53 off 47 balls.

In no time, East cruised previous the 300-run mark, the place, at one time, 250 seemed par on a sizzling however windy day. 

Parag, unbeaten on 102, reached triple digits in 66 balls with the assistance of six fours and 5 sixes. 

Shams Mulani was the choose of the bowlers for West, getting 3/45 in his 10 overs as East completed at 319/7. 

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In reply, Murasingh obtained early motion with the brand new ball and ended up sending 4 batters again within the hut in his first spell. He accomplished the fifer by getting Nagwaswalla caught throughout his second spell.

For West, Harvik had a brand new opening companion in Samarth Vyas since Priyank Panchal damage his ankle whereas fielding.

While Harvik was scoring with ease, the others struggled to outlive on a pitch with reducing tempo and bounce. Atit Sheth and Harvik added 49 runs for the seventh wicket. Once Utkarsh obtained Atit out in twenty eighth over, it was only a matter of time earlier than East completed off the sport. 

Panchal did come to bat at quantity 11 to assist Harvik get his hundred. However, the latter obtained out on 92, caught at deep midwicket whereas making an attempt to hit a six.