Duleep Trophy: East Zone oust Central Zone by 4 wickets to enter final

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s cameo sat well with fiery spells by Bengal pacers Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar, powering East Zone to the Duleep Trophy final with a four-wicket win over defending champions Central Zone on the third day of the semifinal here on Tuesday.

The 2012-13 season winners will face either South Zone or North Zone in the final at Chepauk, starting on September 6. Shami and Mukesh shared seven wickets among them to bundle out Central for 158 in their second innings, and then scaled down the 159-run target despite a mini slump in the middle.

On a pitch that offered increasing turn to spinners, it was vital for East to make a solid start to hunt down the target of 159. Sooryavanshi (40, 43b) played an innings of two faces - his first 15 runs came off 30 balls, a stark contrast to his 42-ball fifty in the first innings, and contained just a six off pacer Aryan Pandey. But the remaining 25 runs came in 13 balls, which had another six and three boundaries. However, on the other side, his opening partner Abhimanyu Easwaran was outpacing him, scoring a six off off-spinner Saransh Jain over long-on.

Sooryavanshi, who offered a broad bat to spinners, could only be awakened by the sight of pacer Yash Thakur, whom he had carted for four fours and two sixes in the first dig.

In this innings, the left-hander blasted the pacer for three fours and a six in 14th over.