![]() The North Zone and South Zone teams played against each other in the first match of Duleep Trophy, 2007-08 and the match was held at Ahmedabad from 26-28 January, 2008. The captain of North Zone, M Manhas won the toss and took the decision of fielding first in the match. Being put into bat first by the opponent captain, the South Zone batsmen failed to play well and got all out for a small score of only 157 runs in their first innings. V Malik bowled brilliantly for North Zone and picked up 5 wickets for 44 runs in South Zone's first innings. While replying to the first innings total of South Zone, the North Zone batsmen batted better than their counterparts and scored a good total of 299 runs, before getting all out in their first innings. The famous batsman, Yashpal Singh played wonderfully and scored the highest 97 runs for North Zone and A Mishra also played well to score 47 runs for his team. Trailing by 142 runs in the first innings, the South Zone batsmen failed to bat well in their second innings also and scored 211 runs, before getting all out. Thus, the North Zone team required only 70 runs in the second innings to win the match and the North Zone batsmen eventually scored 72 runs after losing only 2 wickets. The North Zone team earned 5 points from the match by clinching a huge victory of 8 wickets. ![]() The Central Zone team appeared in the third match of Duleep Trophy, 2007-08 also and this time, it played against the overseas guest team, England A. The match was held at Baroda from 03-06 February, 2008 and The England A skipper, M Yardy invited the Central Zone team to bat first in the match, after winning the toss. While batting first in the match, the Central Zone batsmen showed a good performance and scored a moderate total of 270 runs in their first innings. The skipper, M Kaif became the top scorer for Central Zone with 64 runs to his name. In reply to the first innings total of Central Zone, the England A batsmen failed to play well and got all out for a small score of only 155 runs. None of the England A batsmen could stay longer on the crease and as a result, the Central Zone team took a good lead of 115 runs in the first innings. Though the Central Zone batsmen could not play that much well in their second innings and got all out for 180 runs, the target of England A to win the match was eventually set at 296 runs. The England A batsmen showed a much better batting performance in their second innings and successfully achieved the target by scoring 297 runs after losing only 5 wickets. The England A opener, M Carberry scored a brilliant century of 112 runs and helped his team clinch a victory of 5 wickets and also earn 5 points from the match. ![]() The North Zone team played against East Zone in the fifth match of Duleep Trophy, 2007-08 and the match was held at Rajkot from 11-14 February, 2008. The toss of the match was won by the captain of North Zone, M Manhas and he took the decision of batting first in the match. The decision was proved to be a good one, as the North Zone batsmen played well and scored a good total of 360 runs in their first innings. The skipper, Manhas became the top scorer for North Zone with 88 runs to his name and C Nanda (58) and A Mishra (52) also played well for their team. S Paul picked up 5 wickets for 106 runs on behalf of East Zone in North Zone's first innings. The East Zone batsmen faced a lot of troubles while replying to the first innings total of North Zone and they could score only 143 runs, before getting all out in their first innings. W Saha got the highest sore of 56 runs for East Zone, while V Singh took 5 wickets for 59 runs on behalf of North Zone. Leading by a huge margin of 217 runs, the North Zone batsmen played extraordinarily and scored a huge total of 459 runs for 2 wickets, before their captain declared the second innings. The opener, A Chopra and the skipper, M Manhas batted outstandingly and remained not out on the same individual score of 205 runs and helped their team set up a mammoth target of 677 runs to win for East Zone. The target was clearly looking to be unattainable for the East Zone batsmen and they eventually scored only 243 runs, before getting all out in their second innings. Thus, North Zone won the match with a huge margin of 433 runs and also earned 5 points. ![]() The Final of Duleep Trophy, 2007-08 was played between the teams of West Zone and North Zone and the two teams played the match at Mumbai from 19-22 February, 2008. Winning the toss, the North Zone skipper, M Manhas took the decision of fielding first in the match. Being put into bat first by the opponent skipper, the West Zone batsmen played well and scored a moderate total of 274 runs in their first innings, before getting all out. A Rahane became the top scorer for West Zone with 91 runs to his name, while V Singh picked up 5 wickets for 91 runs on behalf of North Zone in West Zone's first innings. In reply to the first innings total of West Zone, the North Zone batsmen showed a better batting display and scored a good total of 340 runs in their first innings. R Bhatia (84) and Yashpal Singh (59) were the highest scorers for North Zone and S Trivedi took 6 wickets for 67 runs on behalf of West Zone. The West Zone team had a deficit of 66 runs in the first innings and the West Zone batsmen scored yet another moderate total of 231 runs in their second innings. V Singh once again picked up 5 wickets for 86 runs on behalf of North Zone in West Zone's second innings. Requiring 166 runs to win, the North Zone batsmen batted brilliantly and successfully achieved the target by losing only 4 wickets. Thus, the North Zone team won the match with a good margin of 6 wickets and also clinched the championship title in Duleep Trophy, 2007-08. |