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. 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 in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
But skipper Ishan Kishan (39 not out, 41b) played an assured innings in the middle-order to guide his side home without too many hiccups from that point. The award will be a boost for the out of favour India seamer who had lost better part of the The two veteran players found the right lengths on a pitch that offered a hint of variable bounce to trouble the batters, reducing them to 97 for eight.
It will be heartening if we can go on and win that title,” said Easwaran after the match. However on the other side, his opening partner Abhimanyu Easwaran was outpacing him, scoring a six off off-spinner Saransh Jain over long-on. Mukesh, who bagged a seven-wicket haul in the match, was later adjudged the Player of the Match. “From a personal point of view, and not only me, the entire team members are looking forward to playing in the final.
