Skipper Parthiv Patel led from the front with a brilliant half-century as West Zone recorded a 91-run victory over East Zone and booked a berth in the final of the Deodhar Trophy at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here on Monday.
After putting up a challenging total of 247 runs on the board, West gained from the undisciplined East Zone batsmen and restricted the rival to 156 inside 42 overs.
In the final scheduled for Wednesday, West will meet the winner of the other semifinal between North and Central.
Electing to bat Parthiv (90, 100b, 8x4) and the experienced Wasim Jaffer (34, 48b, 5x4) gathered runs at a brisk pace. Man of the match Parthiv put up another solid partnership of 86 runs with Cheteshwar Pujara.
Pujara (49, 81b, 2x4) relied more on running between wickets even though it was far from being impressive.
The East bowlers staged a commendable fightback. Pacers Varun Aaron and Ashok Dinda were on target with the old ball. Aaron, often bowling at 140km per hour, returned his second five-wicket haul in one-dayers.
East's batsmen, however, did not value the committed effort of their bowlers. Most of them were guilty of playing mindless shots. With the West pace duo of Jaidev Unadkat and Ishwar Choudhary hitting the right areas, East lost too many wickets too early.
The scores: West Zone: Parthiv Patel c W. Saha b A. Konwar 90, W. Jaffer c M. Tiwary b B. Samantray 34, C. Pujara c M. Tiwary b A. Dinda 49, R. Sharma b V. Aaron 10, A. Nayar c W. Saha b V. Aaron 2, S. Chitnis c Y. Krishnatry b V. Aaron 14, R. Jadeja c Y. Krishnatry b A. Dinda 18, I. Abdulla c W. Saha b V. Aaron 2, D. Kulkarni b A. Dinda 7, J. Unadkat (not out) 0, I. Choudhary b V. Aaron 0; Extras (b-4, lb-4, wd-13): 21; Total (in 49.2 overs): 247.
Fall of wickets: 1-91, 2-177, 3-203, 4-205, 5-207, 6-236, 7-238, 8-247, 9-247.
East bowling: A. Dinda 9-1-50-3, Y. Krishnatry 7-0-49-0, V. Aaron 9.2-0-47-5, B. Samantray 6-0-20-1, Paresh Patel 4-0-18-0, A. Konwar 10-1-39-1, M. Tiwary 4-0-16-0.
East Zone: A. Verma c C. Pujara b J. Unadkat 11, Paresh Patel b I. Choudhary 12, I. Jaggi b J. Unadkat 6, M. Tiwary c I. Choudhary b I. Abdulla 34, S. Tiwary c Parthiv Patel b I. Choudhary 8, W. Saha c R. Jadeja b D. Kulkarni 5, B. Samantray b I. Choudhary 51, V. Aaron c I. Choudhary b I. Abdulla 7, A. Konwar b R. Jadeja 12, A. Dinda c I. Abdulla b J. Unadkat 0, Y. Krishnatry (not out) 1; Extras (b-1, lb-1, wd-7): 9, Total (in 41.1 overs): 156.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-24, 3-34, 4-48, 5-55, 6-104, 7-113, 8-144, 9-149.
West bowling: D. Kulkarni 6-0-34-1, J. Unadkat 8-2-14-3, I. Choudhary 8.1-0-27-3, I. Abdulla 10-0-36-2, R. Jadeja 9-0-43-1.
