Chennai: An unblemished century plus by Devang Gandhi and his 170 run stand with opener M S Dhoni helped East Zone to overwhelm former champions, West for a nine wicket win in the opening match of the Deodhar Trophy Limited Overs tournament on Friday. Needing 174 for a win in 50 overs, Gandhi and Dhoni paced their innings in such a fashion that they withered the rival attack and coasted home with 15 overs to spare, after Indian opener Shiv Sundar Das was dismissed cheaply for four being adjudged leg before to Irfan Pathan (Jr). When Gandhi walked out, East were four for one in 2.2 overs. Gandhi was in devastating mood and Dhoni proving to be a good foil, East's victory was never in doubt. These batsmen took some time to settle down but once started counter attacking, punishing the bowlers, spinners in particular, East steadily moved towards the victory. However, in the 35th over from Bahatule, Gandhi came down heavily and his desire to win the match in quick time frutified. Gandhi not only reached his century from 92 to 109 in this over, making 17 runs but ensured the victory for his team led by Rohan Gavaskar. Earlier, West zone skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar won the toss and mustered 173 runs losing nine wickets in the allotted 50 overs. Vinayak Mane top scored with 43 runs and Sairaj Bahatule chipped in with 21, while Milap Mewada remained unbeaten with a useful 24. The only good patch of their innings was Connor Williams (10) and Mane making 38 runs for the second wicket in 10.4 overs. Extras:
Yadav, Sriram help South Zone defeat Central Zone

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