East Zone Vs Central Zone - Deodhar Trophy One Day Cricket Match

Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, Sreesanth, Wasim Jaffer, Ajit Agarkar, Rohit Sharma, Pravin Kumar, Mohd Kaif and Suresh and many other national players will be descending on to Hyderabad to play limited overs one-day cricket matches this month - the Deodhar Trophy One-Day Cricket Tournament.

This year, the Deodhar Trophy involving the five zones - South, West, East, North and Central - is being played across India. Hyderabad will be hosting four matches, on 14th, 17th, 20th and 23rd March, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium. Today, the 4th and the last match of the Hyderabad leg is being played between East Zone and Central Zone.

Central Zone, after beating South Zone comprehensively during the last match, has garnered a maximum of 15 points from the three matches it has played, and is at the top of the points table. They have been declared champions of the Deodhar Trophy, as the 2nd placed team West Zone has nine points with one more match to play, and can in no way challenge Central Zone.

Mohd. Kaif is the captain of Central Zone, which also includes Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Praveen Kumar, R P Singh and Piyush Chawla, all international one-day players. Tanmay Srivastava, Naman Ojha, Faiz Fazal, Pankaj Singh, Himalaya Sagar, Praveen Gupta and Ravi Jangid are the other members of the team. All the players have clicked in every match, and have sent shivers through the opposition teams by beating them with a bonus point in all the three matches they have played.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla is the captain for East Zone. He is supported by Saurav Ganguly, Manoj Tiwari, Arindam Das, Anustub Mazumdar, Haladar Das, Saurav Tiwari, Vriddhiman Saha, Ishant Jaggi, Manish Bardhan, Ranadeb Bose, S S Paul, Dheeraj Goswami, Iresh Saxena, S S Rao, P R Sinha and Surupam Purkayasth. The team is filled with newcomers and youngsters, and is the underdog in this tournament. And after shocking the strong South Zone in the opening game, it couldn't get its act together in the following games, and is currently on 3 points, with two more matches to play.

The match will be of 50 overs per side. As the match has become just a formality, the players will be performing more with an eye at the selections for the South Africa series in India. The entry is free, and is limited. Please contact the Hyderabad Cricket Association at 2790-5676 for further details.