Duleep Trophy: East Zone defeat 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.

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