<p>East Zone moved a step closer to what could be their maiden Duleep Trophy title as they eliminated North Zone by virtue of their 28- run first innings lead at the Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium here on Tuesday. In the five-day final, East will meet Central at Indore from February 12.<br /><br />Ashok Dinda's terrific eight-wicket spell on Monday had carried East to the threshold of the final, reducing the fourth and last day to a mere formality. East, however, made the most of it with their overnight batsmen Anustup Majumdar and Manish Vardhan slamming centuries.<br /><br />Resuming at 120/1 , Majumdar (144) and Vardhan (125) batted with flair as a hapless North ran out of ideas to contain them. The two batsmen rustled up 251 runs for the second wicket before Majumdar was bowled by Harshal Patel. His 227-ball innings included 20 boundaries.<br /><br />Vardhan followed him shortly when he was bowled by Pradeep Sangwan, who took his first wicket of the match. The left-arm seamer bagged two more wickets to finish with figures of 3/78. Vardhan's 246-ball knock came with the help of 14 fours.<br /><br />East declared their innings closed at 319/5 an hour after lunch and gave North an improbable target of 348 runs to win.</p>.<p>North were 126/3 in 33 overs when the two teams decided to call it off. Opener Rahul Dewan fell on the cusp of a half-century being run out while his partner scored 38. <br />It was East's final appearance after five years and Dinda hoped the team would go on to win the trophy. “Everyone is very excited. We played like a team. Everyone, from the bowlers and batsmen, has given their all. Hopefully, we will win the final,” he said.<br /><br />His team-mate and an in-form Majumdar, who has now scored back-to-back centuries in Duleep Trophy, said: “I was never thinking about scoring multiple centuries. For me, it has always been focussing on each and every delivery. Obviously, it's a good feeling that I have been able to contribute to team's cause.”<br /><br />SCORE BOARD<br /><br />EAST ZONE (I Innings): 315 all out in 104.1 overs<br /><br />NORTH ZONE (I Innings): 287 all out in 105 overs<br /><br />EAST ZONE (II Innings, O/n: 120/1): Manish Vardhan b Sangwan 125, Natraj Behera c Bisht b Awana 19, Anustup Majumdar b Patel 144, Biplab Samantray c Mishra b Sangwan 14, Ishank Jaggi lbw Sangwan 5, Wriddhiman Saha (not out) 0. Extras (B-1, LB-9, W-1, NB-1) 12. Total (for 5 wkts decl, 94.2 overs) 319.<br /><br />Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-296, 3-300, 4-314, 5-319.<br /><br />Bowling: Parvinder Awana 17-4-53-1, Harshal Patel 16-3-45-1, Pradeep Sangwan 14.2-0-78-3, Rajat Bhatia 15-3-28-0, Amit Mishra 22-4-53-0, Mandeep Singh 2-0-9-0, Rahul Dewan 3-0-18-0, Mayank Sidhana 5-0-25-0.<br /><br />NORTH ZONE (II Innings): Rahul Dewan (run out) 45, Shikhar Dhawan c Vardhan b Nadeem 38, Pradeep Sangwan b Nadeem 3, Mandeep Singh (not out) 19, Mayank Sidhana (not out) 12. Extras (LB-9) 9. Total (for 3 wkts, 33 overs) 126.<br /><br />Fall of wickets: 1-78, 2-86, 3-109.<br /><br />Bowling: Biplab Samantray 4-0-18-0, Shahbaz Nadeem 16-1-51-2, Natraj Behera 12-0-41-0, Manish Vardhan 1-0-7-0.</p>
<p>East Zone moved a step closer to what could be their maiden Duleep Trophy title as they eliminated North Zone by virtue of their 28- run first innings lead at the Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium here on Tuesday. In the five-day final, East will meet Central at Indore from February 12.<br /><br />Ashok Dinda's terrific eight-wicket spell on Monday had carried East to the threshold of the final, reducing the fourth and last day to a mere formality. East, however, made the most of it with their overnight batsmen Anustup Majumdar and Manish Vardhan slamming centuries.<br /><br />Resuming at 120/1 , Majumdar (144) and Vardhan (125) batted with flair as a hapless North ran out of ideas to contain them. The two batsmen rustled up 251 runs for the second wicket before Majumdar was bowled by Harshal Patel. His 227-ball innings included 20 boundaries.<br /><br />Vardhan followed him shortly when he was bowled by Pradeep Sangwan, who took his first wicket of the match. The left-arm seamer bagged two more wickets to finish with figures of 3/78. Vardhan's 246-ball knock came with the help of 14 fours.<br /><br />East declared their innings closed at 319/5 an hour after lunch and gave North an improbable target of 348 runs to win.</p>.<p>North were 126/3 in 33 overs when the two teams decided to call it off. Opener Rahul Dewan fell on the cusp of a half-century being run out while his partner scored 38. <br />It was East's final appearance after five years and Dinda hoped the team would go on to win the trophy. “Everyone is very excited. We played like a team. Everyone, from the bowlers and batsmen, has given their all. Hopefully, we will win the final,” he said.<br /><br />His team-mate and an in-form Majumdar, who has now scored back-to-back centuries in Duleep Trophy, said: “I was never thinking about scoring multiple centuries. For me, it has always been focussing on each and every delivery. Obviously, it's a good feeling that I have been able to contribute to team's cause.”<br /><br />SCORE BOARD<br /><br />EAST ZONE (I Innings): 315 all out in 104.1 overs<br /><br />NORTH ZONE (I Innings): 287 all out in 105 overs<br /><br />EAST ZONE (II Innings, O/n: 120/1): Manish Vardhan b Sangwan 125, Natraj Behera c Bisht b Awana 19, Anustup Majumdar b Patel 144, Biplab Samantray c Mishra b Sangwan 14, Ishank Jaggi lbw Sangwan 5, Wriddhiman Saha (not out) 0. Extras (B-1, LB-9, W-1, NB-1) 12. Total (for 5 wkts decl, 94.2 overs) 319.<br /><br />Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-296, 3-300, 4-314, 5-319.<br /><br />Bowling: Parvinder Awana 17-4-53-1, Harshal Patel 16-3-45-1, Pradeep Sangwan 14.2-0-78-3, Rajat Bhatia 15-3-28-0, Amit Mishra 22-4-53-0, Mandeep Singh 2-0-9-0, Rahul Dewan 3-0-18-0, Mayank Sidhana 5-0-25-0.<br /><br />NORTH ZONE (II Innings): Rahul Dewan (run out) 45, Shikhar Dhawan c Vardhan b Nadeem 38, Pradeep Sangwan b Nadeem 3, Mandeep Singh (not out) 19, Mayank Sidhana (not out) 12. Extras (LB-9) 9. Total (for 3 wkts, 33 overs) 126.<br /><br />Fall of wickets: 1-78, 2-86, 3-109.<br /><br />Bowling: Biplab Samantray 4-0-18-0, Shahbaz Nadeem 16-1-51-2, Natraj Behera 12-0-41-0, Manish Vardhan 1-0-7-0.</p>
