Brilliant bowling by off-spinner Yusuf Pathan (five for 35) and medium pacer Siddharth Trivedi (four for 28) helped West Zone move into the final of the Duleep Trophy notching up a dramatic nine-wicket victory over England Lions on the fourth and final day of their Group ‘B’ match at the Motibaug Palace Cricket Ground here on Thursday.

The winners, who needed an outright victory against the visitors in order to make it to the final of the championship, rallied in a splendid manner through Pathan and Trivedi as they bundled out their opponents for a paltry 165 and then rattled up the required 27 runs with 12 mandatory overs to spare. West Zone will now take on defending champions and Group ‘A’ topper North Zone in the final to be played at Mumbai from February 19.

West Zone owed their spectacular victory to a record 342-run second wicket stand between Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane, that helped the side gain a huge 139-run first innings lead, and splendid bowling by Pathan and Trivedi, who restricted England Lions to 165 in their second knock.

SCOREBOARD

ENGLAND LIONS (I Innings): 355
WEST ZONE (I Innings): 494
ENGLAND LIONS (II Innings; O/n: 14/1): MA Carberry lbw Pathan 17, MH Yardy lbw Trivedi 2, EC Joyce lbw Pathan 66, IJL Trott c Kukreja b Dhurv 6, JS Foster c Rahane b Pathan 3, AU Rashid c Makda b Pathan 39, JL Denly b Trivedi 3, LE Plunkett lbw Trivedi 5, G Onions lbw Trivedi 0, SP Kirby c Pujara b Pathan 5, M Panesar (not out) 4. Extras (B-7, LB-8) 15. Total (all out, 82 overs) 165.
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Yardy), 2-39 (Carberry), 3-59 (Trott), 4-72 (Foster), 5-103 (Joyce), 6-115 (Denly), 7-135 (Plunkett), 8-135 (Onions), 9-158 (Kirby).
Bowling: Trivedi 16-7-28-4, Makda 5-3-4-0, Dhurv 25-11-43-1, Powar 12-1-33-0, Y Pathan 21-8-35-5, Jobanputra 3-0-7-0.
WEST ZONE: S Kukreja (not out) 12, A Rahane c Plunkett b Onions 6, C Pujara (not out) 9. Extras (LB-1) 1. Total (for 1 wkt, 14.2 overs) 28.
Fall of wicket: 1-13 (Rahane).
Bowling: Onions 7.2-2-19-1, Kirby 7-3-8-0.