Deodhar Trophy 2023: South, East and West Zones clinch wins on day one

Puducherry [India], July 25 (ANI): South Zone, East Zone and West Zone clinched wins on day one of the ongoing Deodhar Trophy 2023 in Puducherry on Monday, with Narayan Jagadeesan, Utkarsh Singh and Priyank Panchal being the stars for their respective teams. 
In the first match of the day, South Zone took on North Zone. 
Electing to bat first, SZ put on 303/8 in their 50 overs. A 117-run opening stand between Rohan Kunnummal (70 in 61 balls, with eight fours and three sixes) and skipper Mayank Agarwal (64 off 68 balls, with seven fours) serving as a platform for a massive score. 
Later, Narayan Jagadeesan (72 in 66 balls with four boundaries and three sixes) upped the attack along with Ricky Bhui (31) and Arun Karthik (21) that took SZ to a big score. Narayan was the last wicket to fall. 
Rishi Dhawan (2/30) and Mayank Markande (2/53) shined with the ball for NZ. Sandeep Sharma, Nitish Rana and Mayank Dagar were also among some other wicket takers. 
In the chase of 304 runs, Nitish-led NZ was all out for 60 runs in 23 overs, with Mandeep Singh (18*) and Shubham Khajuria (10) being the only ones to touch double digits. 
Vidwath Kaverappa continued his red-hot form from Duleep Trophy, taking 5/17 in six overs. Vijaykumar Vyshank got two wickets while Sai Kishore, Washington Sundar and Vasuki Koushik got a wicket each. 
In the second match, Central Zone took on East Zone. Put to bat first by East, CZ was bundled out for 207 in 50 overs. Rinku Singh (54 in 63 balls, with one four and two sixes) was the top-scorer for his side and bailed them out of difficulty. Aryan Juyal (39*) and Karn Sharma (32) also played some crucial knocks for CZ. 
Shahbaz Ahmed, Akash Deep and Manisankar Murasingh took a wicket each for EZ. 
In the chase of 208 runs, EZ did not face problems. Abhimanyu Easwaran (38) and Utkarsh Singh had a 91-run opening stand, which eased things a lot for them. Subhranshu Senapati (33) played a great knock to support Utkarsh, who scored 89 in 104 balls, consisting of 11 fours and three sixes. EZ chased down the target with six wickets and 23 balls in hand. 
Karn Sharma (3/35) was the top bowler for CZ. 
In the final match of the day, North East Zone took on West Zone. 
Put to bat first by West, NEZ was bundled out for 207 in 47 overs. Nobody really got their innings going despite having a solid start as Imliwati Lemtur (38), skipper Langlonyamba Meitan Keishangbam (30), Palzor Tamang (29) and Jehu Anderson (24) were among the top contributors. 
Arzan Nagwaswalla (3/31), Shams Mulani (2/37) and Shivam Dube (2/36) were the stars for WZ with the ball. 
WZ chased down this target without breaking a sweat as a 167-run opening stand between Harvik Desai (85 in 71 balls with 14 fours) and Panchal (99* in 69 balls with seven fours and seven sixes) decided the result within 20 overs or so. Rahul Tripathi stayed unbeaten on 13*. 
WZ won by nine wickets, with more than 24 overs to spare. (ANI)