West Zone to meet East in Deodhar final

MUMBAI: For the last couple of months Axar Patel has not put a foot wrong on the cricket field. It wasn't any different at the Wankhede on Monday when the batting all-rounder from Gujarat got together with Suryakumar Yadav to script an incredible two-wicket win for West Zone against South in the Deodhar Trophy semifinal.

Chasing a stiff target of 315 West looked par for the course till the fifth ball of the 21st over with score reading 118-1.

That's when Sanju Samson, fielding at mid-off, produced a moment of pure magic to tilt the scales in South's favour. The youngster from Kerala timed his jump to perfection and held on to a sharp one-handed catch, cutting short opener Sheldon Jackson's assured innings of 51 (57b, 4x7).

Ambati Rayudu (54 runs, 53 balls, 7x4, 1x6), who had stitched a 91-run stand with Jackson, too was sent packing five balls later helping South strengthen their position.

And by the time R Vinay Kumar's men had reduced their opponents to 174-6 in the 33rd over, somewhere in their mind they would have begun thinking about the final against East Zone on Wednesday. However, Yadav, who had come in at number five and Patel who joined him at the fall of Deepak Hooda, had other plans in mind.

The duo read the situation well, and unlike their middle-order counterparts Kedar Jadhav and Yusuf Pathan, chose to wait for the second power-play during which they went after the bowlers, plundering 67 runs in five overs.

Yadav who had scored 80 (56 balls, 7x4, 4x6) was the only casualty in this brief passage of play . Nevertheless, the Mumbai captain, who was let off twice on nine and 11, had done enough to keep Patel and the remaining batsmen interested.

Patel, who was part of the Indian side that demolished Sri Lanka in the five-match ODI series last month, did his batting credentials a great service by keeping his cool even when West lost the experienced Dhawal Kulkarni for nought and still had 45 runs to get with only Shardul Thakur and Dominic Joeseph to follow. He combined well with Thakur, who hammered an unbeaten 31 off 23 balls, and ensured there was no further hiccups.

Brief scores: South Zone 3146 in 50 overs (R Uthappa 47, M Agarwal 86, B Aparajith 56, M Pandey 55; D Kulkarni 3-64).West Zone 3198 in 47.1 overs (Sheldon Jackson 51, Ambati Rayudu 54, Suryakumar Yadav 80, Axar Patel not out 64; Vinay Kumar 2-70, Stuart Binny 3-66).West Zone win by 2 wickets.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/followceleb.cms?alias=Sanju Samson,Kedar Jadhav,Deodhar Trophy,Axar Patel,Ambati Rayudu

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