The Harbhajan Singh led North Zone has entered into the Final of the Deodhar Trophy 2011/12 after defeating the Piyush Chawla led Central Zone in the Second Semi-Final by 22 runs at the HPCA Stadium in Dharmasala. North Zone will meet the West Zone at this same ground on the 19th in the Final of the Deodhar Trophy 2012.
Paras Dogra, Yaspal Singh help North Zone to 289 for 8
Asked to bat first after losing the toss, North Zone piled up 289 for 8 in the allotted 50 overs. Although, North Zone was shaken up early at 28 for 2, there was a tremendous recovery from the other batsmen. Three batsmen – Mandeep Singh (53 from 85 balls with 5 fours), Paras Dogra (71 from 86 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes) and Yashpal Singh (83 from 70 balls with 8 fours and 3 sixes) scored half centuries. Rajat Bhatia chipped in with 40 from 30 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes.
For the Central Zone, pacers Shailender Gehlot with 3 for 59 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with 2 for 45 bowled well. India fast bowler Umesh Yadav went for 1 for 68 in his 10 overs.
Parvinder Awana takes 6 for 46 to bowl North Zone to victory
Central Zone despite being in a solid position almost till the 40th over messed up its chances to go down by 22 runs. They were restricted in the end to 267 for 9 with medium pacer Parvinder Awana doing all the damage with superb figures of 6 for 49 in 10 overs. Central lost the match despite half centuries from opener Bhuvneshwar Kumar (51 from 69 balls with 9 fours), Mohammad Kaif (60 from 74 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes) and Ashok Menaria (51 from 50 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes). Central Zone had qualified in this Semi-Final having defeated South Zone in a Quarter-Final Match.
With this victory, North Zone will now meet West Zone in the Final on the 19th. West Zone had defeated East Zone in their Semi-Final Match at Mohali on the 17th.