Chennai, October 25: East Zone lifted the Duleep Trophy for the second successive time by beating Central Zone in the final here on Thursday. Left-arm spinner Iresh Saxena and part-time leg-break bowler Anustup Majumdar shared nine wickets between them as East Zone finished with a 43-run first innings lead.

In reply to East Zone's first innings score of 232, all the Central Zone batsmen - barring opener Tanmay Srivastava - found it difficult to survive on a slow track, which also offered appreciable turn as they were shot out for 189 in 83.5 overs. Srivastava scored 94 off 252 balls with eight fours and was Iresh's fifth victim as he gave a simple catch to Ishank Jaggi at forward short-leg. Left-arm spinner Iresh had career-best figures of 5 for 58, while Majumdar finished with figures of 4 for 29 in 7.5 overs. Starting the day at 74 for two, Robin Bist (2) became the first batsman to be dismissed as he got short-pitched delivery from Basant Mohanty, which kicked up as Dheeraj Jadhav at gully took the catch. Iresh got his third victim when a scratchy Ashok Menaria pushed at a flighted delivery that was caught at first slip. At 97 for four, Mahesh Rawat (22) joined Srivastava as they added 50 runs in the next 20 overs. East couldn't make any inroads before Anustup's twin strike. Also, Iresh dismissing Jalaj Saxena proved to be a vital moment in the match. Brief Scores:East Zone 232 & 8/0; Central Zone 189 in 83.5 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 94, Iresh Saxena 5/58. Anustup Majumdar 4/29).