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North win Deodhar Trophy

Skipper Vikram Rathour led from the front as North Zone got the better of South Zone by seven wickets to win the Deodhar Trophy limited-overs cricket tournament at the Nehru Stadium in Pune today.

First he called correct and put South in to bat. Then, he dazzled with the bat to score 106 off only 87 balls as North, chasing South's 278 for 8 in 50 overs, raced to the target with seven wickets and 5.2 overs to spare to regain the trophy it last won in 1997-98.

Rathour was well-supported in his run chase by Ashu Dani (40), Pankaj Dharmani (36) and Ajay Jadeja (60).

But while Rathour stole the limelight with the bat, it was medium pacer Amit Bhandari who actually made things easy for North in the morning when South batted. The Delhi lad bowled a tidy line to have the South batsmen in all sorts of trouble before returning with figures 3 for 56, the wickets of J Arun Kumar, Reuben Paul and Mohammad Azharuddin.

Had middle order batsman S Sharath not stayed put at the wicket for a well-made 104 off 123 balls - his second successive ton after scoring 101 against Central in their last league tie - and pinch hitter S Mahash not hit 48 in 44 balls, South may have caved in even more meekly.

Prior to this match both South Zone and North Zone had four points from two wins and one defeat each from their three games. Today's victory swelled North's tally to an unbeatable six points.

Scoreboard