Central and East to meet in final
A round-up of day four of the semi-finals of the Duleep Trophy 2011-12
ESPNcricinfo staff
07-Feb-2012
Central Zone booked their place in the final of the Duleep Trophy on the basis of a first-innings lead over South Zone at Chepauk. They had reached an impregnable position at the end of the third day, and continued batting on the fourth. Robin Bist stretched his score to 160, Bhuvneshwar Kumar finished with 85 and Piyush Chawla made 53. Central declared on 530 for 8, setting South 641 to win. In the 39 overs that followed, South ended on 152 for 2, captain S Badrinath making an unbeaten 58.
East Zone also advanced to the final of the Duleep Trophy by way of a first-innings lead over North Zone in Delhi. Their overnight batsmen Manish Vardhan and Anustup Majumdar batted the bulk of the fourth day, scoring centuries and stretching East's lead to 347. Vardhan scored his fourth first-class ton and Majumdar his third in a row. North reached 126 for 3 in the 33 overs they played out on the final day.
East and Central will play the final in Indore on February 12.
