Deodhar Trophy 2023 Final South Zone vs East Zone: Winners, Player of the Match, Top Run Getters, Most Wickets

Puducherry, Aug 3: South Zone defeated East Zone by 45 runs in the final of the Deodhar Trophy 2023 and clinched their ninth title of the tournament here at Cricket Association Puducherry Siechem Ground, Puducherry on Thursday (August 3).

Batting first, South Zone opener Rohan Kunnummal played a sensational knock of 107 off just 75 balls, including four sixes and 11 fours, and set the ball rolling for his side. South Zone piled up 328 for eight in the summit clash. Chasing 329 to win, East Zone were bowled out for 283 in 46.1 overs.

South Zone's impressive bowling line-up then made life miserable for the East Zone batters, whose top order crumbled to reach 75 for four after 16 overs and were left staring at a mountain to climb.

East Zone pinned all their hopes on the pair of Riyan Parag and Kumar Kushagra, who delivered yet again with a 105-run stand for the sixth wicket, but their effort was just not enough. But their hopes were dashed when their star all-rounder, Parag fell agonisingly five runs close to what would have been his third century in the competition.

Having stuttered in the chase, Parag's yet another quickfire knock -- 95 from 65 balls with eight fours and five sixes -- did revive East Zone's hopes of turning the tables on South Zone. Washington Sundar (3/60) was the pick of the bowlers for South Zone and provided much-needed breakthroughs for his team.

Deodhar Trophy 2023 Final South Zone vs East Zone Scorecard

North Zone 328/8 in 50 overs (Rohan Kunnummal 107, Mayank Agarwal 63, N Jagadeesan 54; Utkarsh Singh 2/50) beat East Zone 283 in 46.1 overs (Sudip Gharami 41, Riyan Parag 95, Kumar Kushagra 68; Washington Sundar 3/60) by 45 runs.

Deodhar Trophy 2023 Final Player Of The Match

Rohan Kunnummal - the right-handed batter from Kerala - was awarded the player of the match for his century knock. He amassed a total of 311 runs in 6 matches in the tournament.

Deodhar Trophy 2023 Player of the Tournament

East Zone batter Riyan Parag was awarded the Player of the Tournament for his impressive batting performance. The right-handed batter from Assam scored 354 runs in 5 games and averaged a healthy 88.50.

Deodhar Trophy 2023 Top Wicket-Taker

Karnataka pacer Vidhwath Karverappa was the top wicket-taker of the tournament with 13 wickets in 5 games. He was followed by Shams Mulani (12 wickets) and Shahbaz Ahmed (12 wickets).