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Yusuf Pathan attempted an encore of his Duleep Trophy heroics, but winning a match that was a lost cause proved to be beyond the home cricketer on the day. North Zone, despite not putting in one of their better performances, walked away with the Deodhar Trophy title, the 11th time they have done so in the tournament's history.

West were set a manageable 268 for victory on a track that was on the slower side, but aided spin. The early fall of Chirag Pathak was papered over by Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, who added 78 for the second wicket.

Spinners Mukesh Sharma and Rahul Dewan began to tighten the screws, applying pressure and reaping the rewards. Parthiv Patel, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja all fell cheaply, and the collapse left West reeling at 108 for 6.

Most times, circumstances like this in a pressure-cooker final cause players to implode. Yusuf, however, took the lack of support as a challenge. After hitting the first ball he faced for a six , Yusuf repeatedly pounded the big strokes. Iqbal Abdulla stuck to his job, keeping one end up as the runs flowed from the other end.

By the 37th over, Pathan had put North under serious pressure, racking up 80 off only 39 balls with nine sixes and three fours. When Mukesh slipped one past Yusuf, and Uday Kaul gleefully completed the stumping, the game was back in hand. The remaining three wickets fell without ado and West were bowled out for 218.

Earlier North managed a strong start and ending to an innings blighted by players getting starts and throwing it away. Uday Kaul topscored with 67 and Jaskaran Singh provided the impetus at the end with a 9-ball 25 that pushed the score to 267.