BENGALURU: On a day when 13 wickets fell, East Zone had the final say in the Duleep Trophy semifinal at the BCCI CoE here. The Ishan Kishan-led side dominated proceedings in the second innings to claim a four-wicket victory over Central Zone to reach the final.With East set a target of 159 runs, the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (40) and Ishan Kishan (39 n.o.) helped their team to reach the target with a day to spare on Tuesday. It was for the second straight match that East, who beat Northeast in the quarterfinal, wrapped up the match inside three days.All eyes were again on Vaibhav during the chase. Interestingly, there was a slight change in Vaibhav’s approach. The Bihar boy, who hit only one six in his first 37 balls, cut loose in the 14th over to smash Yash Thakur for three fours and a six before his dismissal. Another attempted six off Thakur ended his innings with Central skipper Rajat Patidar taking a fine running catch.Though slow left-arm Harsh Dubey claimed four wickets — Abhimanyu Easwaran, Virat Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Anukul Roy — quickly, Ishan saw East home.Earlier, Central, who started the day on 45/3, lost wickets at regular intervals. Mukesh Kumar finished with a four-wicket haul while Mohammed Shami claimed three as Central lost their last seven wickets in the morning session.North zone fightbackIn the other semifinal, North Zone batters showed positive intent at the adjacent ground after South stretched their lead to 117. 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) kept the scoreboard ticking. However, pacer Vidwath Kaverappa, who did not take the field in the third session due to a leg injury, dismissed Doseja. New man Ayush Badoni then kept the momentum going with a brisk 37-ball 31, but North lost the plot after tea.In a span of 10 overs, South took five wickets before Nishant Sindhu (20 batting) and Anshul Kamboj (29 batting) stitched an unbeaten 47-run eighth-wicket stand to keep their side afloat. Earlier, South added 27 runs to their overnight total of 285/9 before being all out. Tilak Verma remained unbeaten on 116.Brief scores: 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) vs. South 312 (o/n: 285/9) in 100.3 overs (Tilak Varma 116 n.o; 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 Sooryavanshi 40, Ishan Kishan 39; Harsh Dubey 4-53).
