Deodhar: Aparajith ton helps South whip Central
Mumbai: Riding on Baba Aparajith's splendid century, South Zone crushed a hapless Central Zone by 116 runs with 13.3 overs to spare in the Deodhar Trophy quarter final at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Saturday. Aparajith, who batted at no.3, compiled a stroke-filled 105-ball 113 runs, laced with 2 sixes and eight fours, to power South to an imposing 296 for nine. The Tamil Nadu batsman was well supported by Karun Nair, who made an attacking 74 off 62 balls inclusive of nine hits to the fence as the two revived a stuttering innings with a partnership of 124 in 109 balls for the fourth wicket. In reply, Central started disastrously to be 3 down for 4 and then proceeded to be eventually shot out for 180 in 36.3 overs. Three batsmen were run-out, including the opener and the second-highest scorer Mukul Dagar (47 in 64 balls). Number-seven batsman Arijit Gupta smashed 5 fixes and as many fours in his 49-ball 66 to keep Central's slender hopes alive till the power play. South and Karnataka skipper R Vinay Kumar picked up 3 for 8 in 6 overs while little known left-arm spinner Darshan Misal of Goa gave him useful support by grabbing 2 wickets. Brief Scores — South Zone: 296/9 (Baba Aparajith 113, Karun Nair 74, Pankaj Singh 5/45) beat Central Zone: 180 (Arjit Gupta 66, Mukul Dagar 47; Vinay Kumar 3/8) by 116 runs
Ranji: Delhi rest Nehra, Manhas; include Himmat
New Delhi: The DDCA's senior selection committee headed by Yashpal Sharma rewarded teenager Himmat Singh by including him in the Gautam Gambhir-led Delhi squad that will host Saurashtra in the opening match of the Ranji Trophy starting December 7. Another notable inclusion was left-arm pacer Pradeep Sangwan, who is now back in the fold having served an 18-month dope ban after being found positive for banned substance stanzolol, while playing for KKR in the sixth edition of Indian Premier league. The 18-year-old Himmat has grabbed a lot of eyeballs with consistent performances for the Delhi U-19 side in the Cooch Behar Trophy and he got his maiden entry into the senior team in place of veteran batsman Mithun Manhas, who is yet to fully recover from his injury. However, Himmat might find it difficult to find a place in the playing eleven. Manhas will appear for a fitness test on December 3 and if found 100 percent fit, he might just walk into the side. Veteran left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra has also opted out of the first game and would be available when Delhi play their next round after nearly a two-week gap. Squad: Gautam Gambhir (captain), Virender Sehwag, Unmukt Chand, Milind Kumar, Vaibhav Rawal, Rajat Bhatia, Puneet Bisht (wk), Parvinder Awana, Navdeep Saini, Sumit Narwal, Varun Sood, Shivam Sharma, Himmat Singh, Pradeep Sangwan, Dhruv Shorey. Coach: Vijay Dahiya. Manager: Manoj Kapoor.
