Deodhar Trophy 2023: Priyank Panchal hammers 99* against NEZone
West Zone skipper Priyank Panchal continued his brilliant form by slamming a fine 99* in his side's 2023 Deodhar Trophy opener against North East Zone. This was Panchal's 20th fifty in List-A cricket. The Gujarat-based opener remained unbeaten at one short of another List-A century. Nevertheless, courtesy of his knock, WZone chased down the target of 208 in 25.1 overs. Here's more.
An aggressive knock from Panchal
Panchal, generally known for his grit and patient batting in First-Class cricket, played a fiery knock in the Deodhar Trophy opener. His 99*-run knock came off just 69 balls. It was laced with seven boundaries and as many sixes, as WZone secured a nine-wicket triumph. He added 167 runs with fellow opener Harvik Desai (85) and finished off the rest with Rahul Tripathi (13*).
A look at his List A numbers
Courtesy of this knock, Panchal has raced to 3,378 runs in 87 List-A matches. The 33-year-old opener owns an average in excess of 40. Besides 20 fifties, he has also compiled seven hundreds. Panchal hammered 354 runs in seven matches in last season's Vijay Hazare Trophy. He batted there with an average of 50.57 for his state team, Gujarat (50: 1, 100s:2).
Panchal's valiant 95 in Duleep Trophy final
Panchal has carried his form from the Duleep Trophy to the Deodhar Trophy. In the 2023 Duleep Trophy final against South Zone, he batted with resilience and scored 95 off 211 balls in WZone's chase of 298. Other than Sarfaraz Khan (48), none of the batters supported him properly, otherwise the result could have been different. Eventually, SZone won the title.
How did the match pan out?
WZ won the toss and invited NEZone to bat. Most of the NEZone batters had starts but couldn't convert them into big scores. They were wrapped up for 207. Arzan Nagwaswalla was the star with 3/31, while Shams Mulani and Shivam Dube scalped two wickets each. In reply, Panchal and Desai slammed fifties and stitched a 167-run stand to steer WZone home.
