East Zone vs North Zone
DEODHAR TROPHY, 2023
Riyan Parag stars in East Zone's comprehensive win
![[File] Parag hit a century and then claimed a four-fer.](/a/img/v1/595x396/i1/c337408/file-parag-hit-a-century-and.jpg "[File] Parag hit a century and then claimed a four-fer.")
[File] Parag hit a century and then claimed a four-fer. © BCCI
East Zone won the toss and opted to bat first against North Zone in Match 7 of the Deodhar Trophy. Harshit Rana and Mayank Yadav were instrumental in triggering an early collapse, getting East Zone's head on the block at 57-5. However, what followed was a lesson in grit and character. Riyan Parag (131) and Kumar Kushagra (98) added 235 runs for the sixth wicket before Shahbaz Ahmed and Manishankar Murasingh played a couple of handy cameos to get East Zone to 337-8 in their 50 overs. In response, despite losing Prabhsimran early, Himanshu Rana and Abhishek Sharma put together a stand of 81 runs. However, regular wickets thereafter, and the lack of a big score caught North Zone well short, and despite a fifty from Mandeep Singh, they fell 88 runs short. Riyan Parag was the undisputed star of the game, picking up four wickets with his leg-breaks in addition to his phenomenal rescue effort of a hundred.
