Mumbai, Feb 15 (CRICKETNMORE): Central Zone rode on an all-round effort to edge past North Zone by four runs in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Inter Zonal T20 cricket match at the Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday. BREAKING: Hyderabad to host 2017 IPL opener, final
Riding on skipper Naman Ojha's 48 and Railways batsman Manish Rawat's unbeaten half century (57 off 40 balls), Central Zone made 167/7 after being sent in to bat -- they later restricted North Zone to 163/6.
Ojha and Rawat helped Central recover from a dismal 40/3 with a 52-run fourth wicket stand before the latter rallied with the lower order batsmen -- Karn Sharma (15) and Amit Mishra (18) -- to help the team post 167.
For North Zone, veteran India pacer Ashish Nehra returned with figures of 3/26 while another India star Harbhajan Singh took 2/35. Medium pacer Manpreet Gony chipped in with one wicket.
In reply, the Delhi duo of Shikhar Dhawan (37) and Gautam Gambhir (20) gave North Zone a flying 48-run opening start before wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant (25) and Yuvraj Singh (33) took the side near the victory line.
But leg-spinner Karn Sharma's miserly spell of 3/17 from his four overs tightened the screws on North which finished short by four runs in the end.
Brief Scores: Central Zone 167/7 (Manish Rawat 57 not out, Naman Ojha 48, Ashish Nehra 3/26, Harbhajan Singh 2/35) beat North Zone 163/6 (Shikhar Dhawan 37, Yuvraj Singh 33, Rishabh Pant 25, Karn Sharma 3/17) by four runs.