Of the five zonal leagues in the Ranji Trophy, the scramble for qualifying places is probably toughest in the Central Zone. Vidarbha are the only genuine pushovers; the other four, Rajasthan, Railways, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh play out a game of musical chairs each season. For the second successive year, Rajasthan topped the zonal table to lift the Mewar Trophy and Railways finished runners-up. The only change was in the third qualifier, Madhya Pradesh replacing northern neighbours Uttar Pradesh. But it was not until the last hour of the last round of matches on January 21 that MP finally shook off UP's spirited challenge in an intense duel at the Green Park.

UP went into that final game with 11 points, against MP's 14, needing to win outright to salvage a knockout berth at their opponents' expense. Having conceded a first innings lead of 140, the prospects looked bleak, but a priceless 153 by Rizwan Shamshad helped set a target of 236 in 75 overs. Ashish Zaidi and Shalabh Sriwastava sliced through the top order to leave MP sputtering at 98/6 in the 49th over. Four wickets to get in 25 overs and UP were through to the pre-quarters. But their designs were frustrated by MP's 39-year-old skipper, Chandrakant Pandit. Batting at No 8, the former Indian player fashioned a defiant unbeaten 47. For UP, Sriwastava and Zaidi formed a potent new ball pair right through the season, snaring 39 wickets between them but the batsmen did not lend adequate support. The most disappointing of the lot was Mohd. Kaif who was in the Indian squad as recently as the second Test against Zimbabwe at Nagpur. Kaif averaged 32.75 without a hundred in three matches.

The standout individual performance of the season was MP medium pacer Jai Prakash Yadav's 15/111 in the course of an innings and 176 run trouncing of Vidarbha. Yadav took only seven wickets in three other games, but it was still enough for him to top the wickets tally with 22 at 18.31. The 26-year-old also opens the batting for his team, although he had a rather ordinary season in that role, with only a solitary fifty in six innings. In the same MP-Vidarbha encounter, there was another tour de force, by MP tailenders Amkit Srivastava and Kapil Seth who added 249 for the ninth wicket, obliterating a 61-year- old national record. Indeed the partnership only ended when the 20- year-old wicketkeeper Srivastava was forced to retire hurt on a personal tally of 204. It was the only double century in the Central Zone league.

Vidarbha lost their first three matches by an innings but wangled a draw in their final game against table toppers Rajasthan, due in no small measure to Amit Deshpande. The 19-year-old opening bat who doubles as wicketkeeper struck a century in each innings and finished top of the run aggregate with 456 runs at 91.20. There was one other batsman who also scored two hundreds in a match, Amay Khurasiya. Coming off a dismal run last season, the MP lefthander's fortunes are presently in the midst of a sharp upswing, ever since he struck 105 and 118 not out in the opener against Railways. Runners-up two seasons ago, MP have landed a home engagement in the pre-quarters beginning March 8, against last year's runners-up Hyderabad.

Rajasthan's march to the top was founded on good teamwork; their best bowler, Sanjeev Sharma had only 12 wickets, and their best batsman skipper Gagan Khoda was sixth in the run aggregate. Surging to the top of the table after their first game, when they outwitted UP by six wickets, Rajasthan never let slip the lead. However the luck of the draw has landed them a pre-quarter final clash with North Zome champions Punjab at Mohali, a daunting prospect.

Yere Goud, Amit Pagnis and Raja Ali were the pillars of a formidable Railways batting line-up that raised scores of 525 and 456 in their first two games. The 24-year-old Ali topped the zonal batting averages with two hundreds in three games at 99.33. Ranji veteran Goud's 378 runs put him second only to Deshpande on aggregate. Pagnis, who played seven times for Mumbai last season without establishing himself, ran up three fifties and a hundred on maiden appearance, against Madhya Pradesh, in six innings. Spin was the main component of the Railways attack even in the frequent absence of Murali Kartik on international duty. Left arm spinner Tejinder Pal Singh (14) and off spinner Kulamani Parida (12) were the leading wicket takers. Railways run into Maharashtra at Pune in the next round.

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