In a story book finish, the Deodhar Trophy final between South Zoneand Central Zone ended in a pulsating tie at the KD Singh `Babu’stadium in Lucknow on Thursday. To Central Zone’s total of 298 foreight in 50 overs, South Zone were all out for 298 off the last ballof their innings. Skippers Amay Khurasiya and Robin Singh jointlyreceived the trophy.After Central Zone posted their imposing total, South Zone, after agood start, seemed to have lost their way in the middle overs despitea gallant 91 by `Mr Consistent’ VVS Laxman. And at 258 for nine after46 overs, it seemed over for South Zone. But in an unbelievablefinish, No 10 WD Balaji Rao and No 11 Venkatpathy Raju took South Zonecloser to the target with a mixture of aggressive shots and quicksingles. When they came together, 41 runs were required in four overs.But finally it boiled down to 11 off the last over and one off thelast ball. But Raju patted the ball back to the bowler Md Kaif and wasrun out in going for the all important single.At the start of the innings, South Zone needed virtually six runs anover and openers Arun Kumar and Amit Pathak gave their side anexcellent start by putting on 51 runs off seven overs before theformer was out to a splendid running catch by Kanwat at mid on for 21.The Karnataka batsman faced 25 balls and hit three of them to thefence. Off the last ball of the following over, Dodda Ganesh, promotedin the batting order, hit all over a dipping full toss fromShriwastava to be bowled for zero.Laxman joined Pathak and the two steadied the innings during a thirdwicket association which lasted 7.4 overs and realised 46 runs. But at98, Pathak who was batting well, was run out for 47. The Andhra openercompiled his runs off only 41 balls with the help of seven boundaryhits.Tamil Nadu left hander Sridharan Sharath joined Laxman and the twocontinued the good work by adding 59 runs for the fourth wicket off11.5 overs. Then Murali Kartik dived forward to pick up a return catchto send back Sarath. For his valuable 31, Sarath faced 42 balls andhit one boundary. As Vijay Bhardwaj walked out to join Laxman, SouthZone still required 142 runs for victory off 22.3 overs. But theyreceived a jolt when in going for a quick single, Bharadwaj was runout by a direct throw by Bundela for seven and South Zone were now 175for five in the 32nd over.Laxman, who in the meantime had crossed his half century, was nowjoined by Robin Singh and the run chase had reached a crucial stage.The two pushed the score along to 198 when Md Kaif deceived Robin witha flighted delivery and had the captain stumped for 15. At his going,South Zone still needed 101 runs off 12.5 overs but now had only fourwickets in hand.As wicketkeeper LNP Reddy joined Laxman, Central Zone were now thefavourites. But Reddy changed the equations by taking 13 runs off the41st over bowled by Yadav. Laxman and Reddy then took nine runs offthe next over bowled by Kaif and with eight overs left, South Zonerequired 65 runs for victory.Murali Kartik was now brought back into the attack and he sent down avery accurate 43rd over in which South Zone got only three runs. Withseven overs left, South Zone now needed 62 runs. Off the next overbowled by Sriwastava, South Zone scored another nine runs and Laxmanentered the 90s. Murali Kartik however struck a vital blow in the 45thover when he had Laxman brilliantly caught low down at extra cover byKhurasiya for a gallant 93. The stylist from Hyderabad faced 103 ballsand hit six of them to the ropes. But now with their main hope gone,South Zone, at 254 for seven, after 45 overs were clearly facingdefeat.Kumaran was run out in the next over, following a direct throw from MdKaif at extra cover. Another run out off the last ball of the sameover saw Reddy being the batsman dismissed. The bowler Sriwastava onhis follow through threw the stumps down at the striker’s end as thebatsman attempted a quick single. Reddy had hit 30 off 29 balls withfour boundary hits. South Zone now required 41 runs off four overswith only one wicket remaining.The last wicket pair of Balaji Rao and Venkatpathy Raju, throwingcaution to the winds, took eleven runs off the next over. South Zonenow needed 30 runs from three overs. Seven more runs off the next overfrom Sriwastava made the target now 23 runs needed from two overs. Offthe next over sent down by Yadav, the batsmen helped themselves to 12runs with Balaji Rao continuing to dominate the run getting. Now SouthZone required 11 runs from the last over.Off the first ball of the last over bowled by Kaif, Raju took asingle. It was now ten off five balls. Off the next delivery BalajiRao took a single. Now the target was nine off four balls. The crucialblow was struck off the next ball with Raju swinging the ball straightfor a splendid six, the ball just eluding the outstretched hands ofthe fielder on the boundary line. Now the target was a more realisticthree runs off three balls. Off the fourth ball, the 31-year-oldveteran left arm spinner but right hand batsman took a single. Now twowere needed off two balls. Off the fifth ball the batsmen scampered aleg bye. Now the scores were tied and South Zone required only one runoff the last delivery. Khurasiya, predictably enough, brought all thefielders in to save the one. Kaif took some time to bowl the vitaldelivery and Raju played it straight down the line. The batsmen tookoff for the all important run. But Kaif pounced on the ball and threwit at the stumps running out Raju at the non striker’s end. And anexciting match came to a pulsating end with a rare result. Which inthe final analysis was just about right for neither side deserved tolose. Balaji Rao’s unbeaten 30 off 20 balls with four boundary hitswas a little gem. Incidentally it was for the first time that thefinal of the tournament, which was first played in 1973-74, had endedin a tie.Earlier, put in to bat, Central Zone put up their challenging total,thanks in the main again to skipper Amay Khurasiya’s belligerence.South Zone got an early break when Dodda Ganesh had Jai Yadav, who gota century in the semifinal, leg before for ten. His fall broughtKhurasiya to the crease but a little later, RJ Kanwat was caughtbehind off Kumaran for 13.Gagan Khoda joined Khurasiya at 57 for two and the two got the Centralinnings back on track with a breezy third wicket partnership of 92runs off 15 overs. Khoda was content to play second fiddle to hiscaptain who blazed away with a number of dashing strokes, as thoughcarrying on from where he left off in the semifinal against West Zone,when he hammered 86 runs off 51 balls. Khoda made a sedate 34 off 46balls with two hits to the boundary before he was stumped by Reddy offVenkatapathy Raju.Khurasiya went along his merry way until, at 177 in the 31st over, hegave Vijay Bhardwaj a return catch. Khurasiya again got 86, this timeoff 74 balls with seven fours and a six. But South Zone’s joy atremoving a dangerous batsman was short lived as Md Kaif and Raja Alishared a fifth wicket partnership of 69 runs off 11.4 overs. Both thebatsmen got 41 but while Kaif took 53 balls over it and hit only oneboundary, Ali faced only 43 balls and hit two of them to the ropes.At 246 for four in the 42nd over with two well entrenched batsmen atthe crease, Central seemed well on their way to a total of over 300.But towards the end, they faltered. Kaif and Ali fell in quicksuccession and then wicketkeeper AS Srivastava was run out for 12 offeleven balls. Murali Kartik gave Ganesh a return catch off the firstball he received. Despite the gallant efforts of D Bundela, whocracked an unbeaten 27 off 24 balls with two boundary hits, Centralfell two short of the 300 mark. Both Srivastava and Kartik were out inthe last over. Medium pacers Ganesh and Kumaran, who each took twowickets for 53 and 42 runs respectively, were the pick of the bowlers.The match incidentally was a benefit for former Uttar Pradesh Ranjiplayer Neeru Kapoor who represented the state from 1964 to 1971. In 12matches, Kapoor scored 408 runs with a highest score of 62 againstVidarbha.