Skipper Parthiv Patel (58 off 51 balls) and Manprit Juneja (56 off 63 balls) did the spadework with an 87-run partnership for the second wicket, before Man-of-the-Match Ambati Rayudu (78 not out off 89 balls) and Kedar Jadhav (57 off 43 balls) added 87 in an entertaining fifth-wicket stand to help West overhaul North's 289 for 8 with 10 balls to spare.
West were not weighed down by the pressure of having to score at nearly six an over from the outset. Gautam Gambhir's ploy of giving J&K offie Parvez Rassol the new ball also didn't ruffle them as the batsmen flourished on a track which got increasingly easier to bat on as the day progressed.
Parthiv set the tone with an elegant cover-driven boundary off Rassol, and followed it up with a sweep and a pull off the same bowler. Manpreet Gony was caressed through extra cover, while a Yuvraj Singh full toss was dispatched to the mid-wicket stand.
Parthiv lost partner Vijay Zol in the seventh over, but the next man Juneja, his Gujarat teammate, gave the innings impetus after the 10 overs of mandatory Power-Play.
Both looked good for tons only to fall rather tamely. Rayudu then took up the gauntlet, peppering the offside with well-placed shots which had class written all over them. And despite Yusuf Pathan falling cheaply to a short ball from Siddharth Kaul, Rayudu found another useful partner in Jadhav.
The Maharashtra right-hander followed up his unbeaten 56 on Tuesday with a 43-ball 57 that eased the pressure off Rayudu and denied the North bowlers a crucial inroad they were desperately seeking.
SCOREBOARD
North Zone: Unmukt Chand c Juneja b Unadkat 88, Chandan Madan c Parthiv Patel b Munaf Patel 17, Gautam Gambhir c Unadkat b Dhurv 9, Yuvraj Singh lbw Unadkat 67, Mandeep Singh c sub b Munaf Patel 6, Rajat Paliwal run out 18, Amit Mishra run out 3, Parvez Rassol run out 32, MS Gony not out 25, Siddharth Kaul not out 0. Extras (nb-2, w-14, lb-3, penalty-5): 24. Total (for 8 wkts in 50 overs): 289
Fall of wickets: 1-59, 2-72, 3-192, 4-199, 5-204, 6-223, 7-239, 8-283
Bowling: Munaf Patel 12-0-61-1, Unadkat 10-1-72-1, Dhurv 10-1-49-1, Nayar 7-0-28-1, Makvana 6-0-33-0, Pathan 5-0-38-0.
West Zone: Vijay Zol lbw Rassol 12, Parthiv Patel c Mandeep b Mishra 58, Manprit Juneja c & b Gony 56, Ambati Rayudu not out 78, Yusuf Pathan c Unmukt b Kaul 6, Kedar Jadhav st Madan b Mishra 57, Abhishek Nayar not out 19. Extras (nb-1, lb-3, w-3): 7. Total (for 5 wkts in 48.2 overs): 293
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-111, 3-157, 4-175, 5-262.
Bowling: Rassol 10-1-50-1, Kaul 10-0-57-1, Yuvraj 3-0-18-0, Gony 6-0-52-1, Mishra 12-0-63-2, Awana 4-0-32-0, Paliwal 2-0-7-0, Mandeep 1.2-0-11-0
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