Mohali, Mar 17: West Zone registered a thumping win against East Zone to enter the 2011-12 Deodhar trophy final. After a 69-ball 114 from Kedar Jadhav powered West Zone to a mammoth score of 342, Iqbal Abdulla took six for 32 to rout East Zone by 108 runs.

West Zone dominated this match right from the time East Zone captain Wriddhiman Saha won the toss and asked them to bat first. Opener Parthiv Patel (69 off 76) and No. 3 batsman Cheteshwar Pujara (70 off 85) helped themselves to half-centuries before Jadhav’s blustery innings (17x4, 2x6) took West Zone close to the 350-run mark. For East Zone, medium-pacer Shami Ahmed finished with figures of 10-0-62-4.

Faced with a stiff target, the East Zone innings simply failed to take off as Abdulla had their batsmen struggling against his left-arm spin. Saurabh Tiwary played a valiant innings and remained unbeaten with a 95-ball 112, but with none of the other batsmen able to give him any kind of support, the East Zone innings folded for 234 in 40 overs.

The result means that West Zone become the first team to qualify for the final to be played on March 19 in Dharamsala. The second semi-final will be played at the same venue on March 18 between Central Zone and North Zone.

Brief scores: West Zone 342/7 in 50.0 overs (Kedar Jadhav 114, Cheteshwar Pujara 70, Shami Ahmed 4/62) beat East Zone 234/10 in 40.0 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 112*, Iqbal Abdulla 6/32) by 108 runs

Man-of-the-match: Kedar Jadhav for his 69-ball 114 that powered West Zone to a match-winning score of 342