Date-stamped : 09 Nov94 - 18:25 DEODHAR 1994/5 : Central Zone v West Zone played at Burnpur, 23 Oct 94 Central Zone pulled off a thrilling six-run victory in their opening Deodhar Trophy match against West Zone in a pulsating en- counter at the Burnpur Cricket Club ground here today. Chasing a target of 233 runs for an outright victory, West Zone recovered from two early setbacks to come very close to victory, but paceman Iqbal Thakur struck two vital blows in the dying stages to shatter their hopes. They were all out for 226 in ex- actly 50 overs. West Zone skipper Sanjay Manjrekar, who was responsible for steadying the innings with a gritty knock of 70, and Amol Muzum- dar (48) were the main contributors for the West who paid the price for getting bogged down in the initial stages of the game. West Zone got off to a disastrous start losing opener Surendra Bhave (0) and Santosh Jedhe (10) with just 22 runs on the board, but Manjrekar and Muzumdar salvaged the situation with a valuable 85 run partnership for the third wicket before Muzumdar perished trying to force the pace of scoring. Earlier, electing to bat first, Central Zone recovered from a middle-order collapse to post a challenging score of 232 for eight wickets in their allotted 50 overs, thanks to a scintillat- ing unbeaten knock of 89 by left-hander Gyanendra Pandey and a patient 61 by opener Manoj Mudgal. Skipper Manjrekar, who opened the innings with Surendra Bhave, began cautiously as the Central Zone speedsters Iqbal Thakur and Rajiv Rathore worked up a tidy spell, but gradually began to open up as the spinners were introduced into the attack. Manjrekar's knock of 70 came off 103 balls and contained six boundaries and a mighty six. Muzumdar began sedately content with the singles and twos and was looking dangerous when he found his touch with a flurry of elegant strokes. But realizing that the run-rate had dropped appreciably, the Bom- bay teenager went for a rather ambitious stroke and paid the penalty, spooning a simple catch to Praveen Amre at short mid- wicket off Krishnakumar who was particularly impressive in his second spell (Thanks : PTI, TOI) Contributed by murari (venka@*me.utexas.edu)