West Zone launched their campaign in style as they beat defending champions South Zone by 17 runs in a thrilling game on the opening day of the JK Bose T20 cricket tournament on Sunday.
Put in after a delayed start due to a light drizzle at the picturesque KCA ground, West Zone, propped up by a 29-ball 32 by skipper Devendra Pandey and a quickfire 15-ball 33 by Ehteram Ali, made 146 for five in 20 overs. West were provided an solid start by opener G. Krishnan (16), who made an impressive debut, and Pandey.
South Zone, in reply, were all out for 129 in the final over. They looked like chasing down the total as long as skipper Roshan Thyagrajan, who made a brilliant 80, was batting in the middle, before medium-pacer Sandeep Dhabekar, who picked up three wickets, had him caught behind.
West Zone, thus, avenged their defeat at the hands of the same opponents last year.
In the second match, North Zone powered by Amit Choudrey’s smashing unbeaten 105 defeated East Zone by 98 runs.
Brief Scores: West Zone 146-5 in 20 overs (Ehteram Ali 33, Devendra Pandey 32) beat South Zone 129 (Roshan Thyagrajan 80) by 17 runs.
North Zone 201-4 in 20 overs (Amit Choudrey 105* (59b 19×4), Chetan Sharma 40) beat East Zone 103-9 in 20 (Dipirajan Samal 35) bt 98 runs.