South Zone defeated Central Zone by seven runs in the Deodhar Trophy limited overs cricket league match at Pune on Sunday.
Chasing a target of 269 in 50 overs, Central Zone were bowled out for 262 in the 49th over.
South Zone opener Swapnil Asnodkar who made 53 runs and middle-order batsman Sridharan Sriram, who top-scored with 69, saw their team to a defendable total of 269 runs in 50 overs.
South Zone captain V V S Laxman, who came one down, scored a breezy 41 runs in as many balls.
Central also helped South Zone by giving away 31 extras, which included 22 wides.
Central began on a faltering note with the team losing their first wicket at 12 and thereafter lost wickets at regular wickets to be reduced to 138 for six.
However, left arm spinner Murali Kartik, together with Suresh Raina set up the game with their rearguard action. They put up a partnership of 84 runs for the seventh wicket.
Kartik remained not out on 37 which contained one four and a six and it came from 43 balls and in 88 minutes.
Raina played a swashbuckling knock of 94 runs from 95 balls, with nine boundaries and two sixes.
Central Zone medium pacer Rudra Pratap Singh had a memorable match, claiming five for 58.
For South, medium pacers Tinu Yohannan, R Jesu Raj and N C Aiyappa claimed two wickets each.
Scoreboard:
South Zone Innings:
V Sivaramakrishnan c Ojha b R P Singh 2
S Asnodkar c P Gupta b J P Yadav 53
V V S Laxman b R P Singh 41
S Sriram c H Singh b M Kartik 27
Y Venugopal Rao c Ojha b R P Singh 69
A Yadav c A Pagnis b P Gupta 3
S Badrinath c Ojha b R P Singh 28
D Kartik c R Ali b R P Singh 3
T Yohannan c Ojha b H Singh 3
N C Aiyappa not out 6
R Jesu Raj not out 3
Extras: (lb-7, nb-2, w-22) 31
Total: (For 9 wickets in 50 overs) 269
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-90, 3-140, 4-151, 5-170, 6-233, 7-239, 8-255, 9-259.
Bowling: Harvinder Singh 10-0-47-1, Rudra Pratap Singh 10-0-58-5, Jai Prakash Yadav 10-0-39-1, Murali Kartik 10-0-60-1, Abbas Ali 3-0-17-0, Praveen Gupta 7-0-41-1.
Central Zone Innings:
Amit Pagnis c D Kartik b R Jesu Raj 23
Naman Ojha b T Yohannan 6
Mohd Kaif c D Kartik b N C Aiyappa 31
Abbas Ali lbw Y Venugopal Rao 6
Suresh Raina b N C Aiyappa 94
Jai Prakash Yadav c Yohannan b Sriram 22
Raja Ali st Kartik b Sriram 8
Murali Kartik not out 37
Pravin Gupta b Yohannan 11
Harvinder Singh run out 2
R P Singh c Yohannan b Jesu Raj 10
Extras: (b-1, lb-5, w-6) 12
Total: (all out in 49 overs) 262
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-49, 3-68, 4-70, 5-128, 6-138, 7-222, 8-239, 9-245.
Bowling: Tinu Yohannan 10-0-58-2, Jesu Raj 10-1-52-2, N C Aiyappa 10-2-35-2, Y Venugopal Rao 9-0-37-1, Sridharan Sriram 8-0-61-2, S Badrinath 2-0-13-0.
