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. 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.