'Played bad cricket on slow turner': West Coach Amit Dani

On Wednesday, thanks to skipper Mayank Agarwal’s 98, South again had the better of West Zone and beat them by 12 runs in the 50-overs Deodhar Trophy in Puducherry on Wednesday

A couple of weeks ago, South Zone beat West Zone in the Duleep Trophy final at Bangalore. On Wednesday, thanks to skipper Mayank Agarwal’s 98, South again had the better of West Zone and beat them by 12 runs in the 50-overs Deodhar Trophy in Puducherry on Wednesday.

Thanks to West’s disciplined bowling, especially left-arm spinners— Parth Bhut (3-25) and Shams Mulani (2-42) and pacer Rajvardhan Hangargekar (2-47), South were bowled out for 206 in 46.4 overs. However, despite a strong batting line-up, West were bundled out for 194 in 36.2 overs.

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“It was a slow turner, but we played bad cricket. Our two batsmen [skipper Priyank Panchal and Ankit Bawne 0 and 17 respectively] got run out. But it’s not an excuse. With our strong batting line-up we should have chased 207 convincingly,” West coach Amit Dani told mid-day from Puducherry on Wednesday. Mumbai’s Sarfaraz Khan (42-ball 42, 5x4, 2x6) and Shivam Dube (29 in 36 balls, 2x4) and Baroda all-rounder Atit Sheth (39-ball 40, 6x4) tried their best, but that was not enough.

“We were always positive. Even they [South zone] gave up when Shivam and Atit were batting. Both were batting beautifully, but lost their wickets in a couple of overs [in 31st and 32nd  respectively], which cost us the game. It is unfortunate that three batsmen were well-set and got out. “Sarfaraz was batting splendidly. Whatever pressure South bowlers created, he defused it. But he was caught behind while trying to glance pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak [1-49],” he added.   

Left-arm spinner Sai Kishore and off-spinner Washington Sundar claimed three and two wickets respectively for the winners. West Zone will now face Central Zone in a day-night affair on Friday.

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