Duleep Trophy: East Zone in the final with a dominant win over Central

East Zone’s Vaibhav Sooryavanshi plays a shot on day three of the Duleep Trophy 1 semi-final cricket match between Central Zone and East Zone at the BCCI Center of Excellence (CoE) ground in Bengaluru, Karnataka. (PTI photo) BENGALURU: On a day when 13 wickets fell, East Zone had the final say in the Duleep Trophy semi-final at the BCCI CoE here. The Ishan Kishan-led side dominated the second innings and took four wickets over the Central Zone to reach the final.With East setting a target of 159 runs, 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (40) and Ishan Kishan (39no) helped their team reach the target with a day off on Tuesday. It was for the second straight game that East, which beat Northeast in the quarterfinals, had a shutout in three days.All eyes were once again on Vaibhav during the chase. Interestingly, there was a slight change in Vaibhav’s approach. The Bihar boy, who had hit just one six in his first 37 balls, let loose in the 14th over to smash Yash Thakur for three fours and a six before his dismissal. Another attempted six from Thakur ended his innings with center skipper Rajat Patidar taking a good catch.Although the slow left-armer Harsh Dubey took four wickets – Abhimanyu Easwaran, Virat Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Anukul Roy – Ishan quickly saw the East as home.Earlier, Central, who started the day on 45/3, were losing wickets at regular intervals. Mukesh Kumar finished with four wickets while Mohammed Shami claimed three wickets as Central lost their last seven wickets in the morning session.Battle in the North ZoneIn the second semi-final, the North Zone batsmen showed positive intent on the neighboring pitch after South stretched their lead to 117. Sitting pretty at 175/2, North, who were sitting pretty at 175/2, were reduced to 256/7 at stumps as they took their lead to 139 runs at the end of the penultimate day’s play.The Delhi duo of Sanat Sangwan (76) and Ayush Doseja (52) held the score. However, pacer Vidwath Kaverappa, who did not start in the third session due to a leg injury, recalled Doseja. New man Ayush Badoni then kept the momentum going with a brisk 37-ball 31, but North lost the plot after tea.In the span of 10 overs, South claimed five wickets before Nishant Sindhu (20 runs) and Anshul Kamboj (29 runs) stitched an unbeaten 47-run eighth-wicket stand to keep their side afloat. Earlier, South had added 27 runs to an overnight total of 285/9 before being all out. Tilak Verma remained unbeaten on 116.Short Score: North Zone 195 & 256/7 in 66 overs (Sanat Sangwan 76, Ayush Doseja 52, Anshul Kamboj 29 batting; MD Nidheesh 2-47, Kavuri Saiteja 2-34, Shreyas Gopal 2-77) 12 (2:5/3) Vs. 100.3 overs (Tilak Varma 116no; Arshdeep Singh 2-59, Anshul 2-58, Gurnoor Brar 4-88).Central 266 & 158 (o/n: 45/3) in 50.2 overs (Aman Mokhade 41; Mukesh Kumar 4-44, Mohammed Shami 3-56) lost to East 266 & 162/6 in 39.3 overs (Vaibhav Harsh Sooryavanshi 399; Kishinev 4-53).