Left-arm spinner Sourashish Lahiri claimed five for 118 to lead East Zone to a 93-run victory over England 'A' in the Duleep Trophy cricket match in Amritsar on Monday.
Chasing a victory target of 367, the tourists were bowled out for 273 on the fourth and final day with Kevin Pietersen falling six runs short of his third century of the tournament.
The win gave East four points for a tally of six from two matches and helped them edge out South Zone (4 points) for a berth in the final.
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Resuming at 78 for two, England lost Ed Smith (42) when Lahiri lured him out of the crease and wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta completed the work behind the stumps.
Smith added 99 for the third wicket with Pietersen before being dismissed.
But Pietersen (94) and Matthew Prior (46) raised 52 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter was caught behind off Paul.
Pietersen, who had scored a century in each innings against South Zone in the previous match, then edged Kiran Powar for Dasgupta's third catch.
The English innings then folded like a deck of cards with Lahiri running through the late order effortlessly.
Paul ended with three wickets for 53 runs.
Scoreboard
East Zone (1st innings): 282
England 'A' (1st innings): 225
East Zone (2nd innings): 308
England 'A' (2nd innings):
S Newman b Paul 0
E Smith st Dasgupta b Lahiri 42
M Lumb lbw Lahiri 13
K Pietersen c Dasgupta b Powar 94
M Prior c Dasgupta b Paul 46
K Ali not out 34
G Napier c and b Lahiri 17
J Tredwell lbw Paul 0
G Wagg c Paul b Chatterjee 13
S Mahmood b Lahiri 1
S Kirby c Das b Lahiri 0
Extras: (b-8, lb-1, nb-4) 13
Total: (all out in 93.4 overs) 273
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-25, 3-124, 4-176, 5-222, 6-251, 7-253, 8-272, 9-273.
Bowling: Shib Shankar Paul 20-5-53-3, Debashish Mohanty 10-4-19-0, Sourashish Lahiri 37.4-9-118-5, Utpal Chatterjee 20-6-54-1, Kiran Powar 6-0-20-1.
