West Zone brush aside defiant Akash Chopra to win at Pune

North Zone's Duleep Trophy side may boast some splendid batsmen, but a target of 432 was always going to be out of reach for them, and West Zone duly won their match at Pune by a whopping margin of 178 runs.

North had made it through to the close of play on the third day without losing any wickets, and the openers added a further 34 runs before they were separated. Vikram Rathour fell for 44 off 74 balls, with seven fours, to Sairaj Bahutule.

Of the batsmen to follow, only Shafiq Khan even crossed 20, making 26 off 33. The show was dominated by Rathour's opening partner, Akash Chopra. Remaining unbeaten, Chopra scored 119 off 257 balls, striking 18 fours in his knock.

For West Zone, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar and Bahutule were the successful bowlers. Pathan and Powar picked three wickets each, and Bahutule took 4-58, cementing his position as the player of the match. With a century and nine wickets, Bahutule proved to be the trump up West Zone's sleeve.