Central Zone chasing West's moderate total of 232 for six in 49 overs, grabbed victory with 2.1 overs remaining in the 47th over, thanks largely to a breezy unbeaten 72 from skipper Gyanendra Pandey and a painstaking 50 from opener Gagan Khoda.

Veteran all-rounder Pandey, who came in at a crucial time when Central Zone were struggling at 78 for four, helped the side pick up 96 runs for the fifth wicket with Sanjay Bangar (38 of 61 balls, 2x6) and another 50 runs for the unbroken sixth-wicket with Saurav Shukla (31 not out: 35b, 2x6).

With this win Central were on the threshold of the Deodhar title collecting six points from three outings, while Vinod Kambli-led West Zone were virtually out of the contention losing their first two league matches to defending champion North Zone and Central Zone. Pandeyscalped two vital wickets and then scored unbeaten 84 off 72 balls.

Earlier, opener Santanu Sugwekar cracked 110 (off 137 balls) and put on 109 runs for the first wicket with in-form Sameer Dighe (53) to enable West Zone make 232 for six wickets in the stipulated 49 overs.

Scoreboard

West Zone:Shantanu Sugwekar b Pandey 110, Sameer Dighe lbw Kartik 53, Vinod Kambli c Shamshad b Kartik 9, Jatin Paranjape b Zaidi 25, Tushar Arothe c Bangar b Pandey 5, Iqbal Siddiqui run out (Kartik) 11, Abhijit Kale not out 0. Extras: (lb 3, b 1, nb 10, w 5): 19. Total (for six wickets in 49 overs): 232

Fall of wickets: 1-109, 2-139, 3-213, 4-217, 5-232, 6-232

Bowling: Zaidi 10-0-41-1, Bangar 9-0-49-0, Kartik 10-0-33-2, Pandey 10-0-61-2, P Gandhe 10-0-44-0

Central Zone: Paresh Sutane b Mhambrey 5, Gagan Khoda run out 50, Devendra Bundela run out 0, Rizwan Shamshad c Sugwekar b Siddiqui 15, Sanjay Bangar c Dighe b Kulkarni 38, Gyanendra Pandey not out 72, Sourav Shukla notout 31. Extras (w 16, nb 6): 22 Total: (for five wickets in 46.5 overs) 233

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-25, 3-78, 4-78, 5-174

Bowling: Kuruvilla 8-2-42-0, Mhambrey 8-0-36-1, Kulkarni 9-1-28-1, Siddiqui 6-0-42-1, Arothe 6-0-33-0, Sugwekar 6-0-30-0, Kambli 3-0-21-0, Prakash Bhatt 0.5-0-1-0.

North clinch another win

JAMSHEDPUR: An unbeaten knock of 86 by S Sharath went in vain as South Zone lost by 42 runs against holders North Zone in the limited over Deodhar Trophy tournament at Keenan Stadium.

Chasing a target of 277 for an outright victory, South Zone batsmen could not put up any resistance against the North attack and scored 234 for nine in their allotted 50 overs.

South Zone wickets fell at regular intervals. The side appeared to be in deep trouble when they lost five top order batsmen for only 80. S Sriram (20) and Sharath put up 45 runs for the sixth wicket, while the seventh- wicket partnership between skipper MSK Prasad and Sharath added 43 runs. Sharath'sfaced 123 balls to score 86.

Earlier, electing to bat first after winning the toss, North Zone opener Ashu Dani and skipper Vikram Rathore gave a solid start helping their side to score 276 for nine. While the opening partnership fetched 90 runs, Dani notched up 39, studded with five hits to fence.

Navjot Singh Sidhu, who walked in after Dani's dismissal, stitched a 64-run third wicket partnership with Pankaj Dharmani (26) which was followed by a 57-run fifth wicket partnership with Mithun Minhas (26).

Scoreboard

North Zone: Ashu Dani st MSK Prasad b Vasu 39, Vikram Rathore c MSK Prasad b Vasu 45, Navjot Singh Sidhu run out 83, Pankaj Dharmani c & b Sriram 26, RS Sodhi c Sriram b Ramakishen 10, M Minhas b NP Singh 26, Dinesh Mongia c Sunil Oasis b Vasu 10, Sonu Sharma run out 15, Amit Bhandari c Sriram b Ramakishen 2, Rajiv Nayyar not out 0. Extras (lb 7, w 4, nb 9): 20 Total (for nine wkts in 50 overs): 276

Fall of wickets:

1-90, 2-97, 3-161, 4-186, 5-243, 6-258,7-263, 8-275, 9-276.

Bowling: Ramakishen 10-0-47-2, NP Singh 8-0-70-1, D Vasu 10-0-54-3, Sunil Oasis 1-0-13-0, V Bharadwaj 10-0-29-0, Anantapadmanabhan 5-0-26-0, S Sriram 6-0-30-1.