10th March 2010 - VADODARA: Regardless of the delivery, whether full toss or off good length, whirring with spin or spurred by speed, Yusuf Pathan (80, 39 balls, 3 x 4, 9 x 6) waded into the North Zone attack in the Deodhar Trophy final at the Motibaug Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

Making a mockery of field settings, the Baroda batsman made the fieldsmen helplessly watch the ball soar skywards out of the arena and into the surrounding woods.

Early setbacks

However, his heroics were in vain as West crashed to a 49-run defeat. A near total top-order breakdown had the host, comfortable at 80 for one about a fourth of the way, skidding to 108 for six, not much later. But for Ajinkya Rahane's 46 and Cheteshwar Pujara's 33, all of West's frontline looked pathetic, failing even to reach double digits.

In contrast to the towering Pathan, Iqbal Abdulla (28, 1 x 4, 2 x 6) looked little. Nonetheless, the quite dissimilar duo went about demolishing the North Zone bowlers in what could have been an object lesson for the full-fledged batsmen.

Though left-arm spinner Mukesh Sharma (five for 59) and Rahul Dewan (four for 18) came in for much punishment, the two had the last laugh as they shepherded North to a comprehensive victory.

Limited success

In the morning, Parthiv Patel chose to chase. If it was West's plan to contain North's batting, it met with limited success. Shikhar Dhawan held firm despite the early exit of his opening partner Rahul Dewan, the former slamming half a dozen boundaries in his 60-ball 48. More importantly, he combined well with one-down batsman Uday Kaul to put up a 66-run partnership for the second wicket.

Following Dhawan's departure for 48, rapped low on the pads by Pathan, Kaul continued the good work with Virat Kohli, their association worth 67. His stay spanning a minute more than two hours, studded with five boundaries, steadied the ship, that would later be rocked but never really threatened.

West's pacemen made little headway, their contribution to the attack, less than a third. It was part-time off-spinner Rohit Sharma who got rid of Kaul, luring the latter to step out for Parthiv to do the rest.

The tweakers kept things in check till the last wicket pair of Mukul Sharma and Jaskaran Singh added 35 in an unbroken stand. Jaskaran smashed three sixes on the trot, while Mukesh struck one too.

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