Sri Lanka 'A' registered a three-wicket victory over South Zone, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, to enter the final of the Duleep Trophy on Tuesday.
South Zone's sporting decision to declare the second innings on 333, on the fourth and last day, backfired as Malinda Warnapura struck an unbeaten ton to rally his team to victory.
Set a target of 273, the Lankans seemed heading for doom at 131 for 6 before Warnapura (111 not out) and Kaushal Silva (65) added 137 for the seventh wicket to pave the way for a creditable victory.
Akalanka Ganegama (3 not out) was at the crease with Warnapura as the Sri lankans reached 273/7 in 76.4 overs.
Sri Lanka 'A' will now take on North Zone in the final at the same venue from November 14.
North made the grade after picking two points from a drawn outing against East Zone at Guwahati.
Spinner Pragyan Ojha got the first breakthrough in the Lankan essay by sending back Michael Vandort (14) after the openers had put on 51 runs.
This triggered a collapse as the Sri Lankans lost three more wickets within a space of 32 runs to be reduced to 83 for 4.
Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh grabbed six wickets to give South Zone a hope of victory. He started the slide with the wickets of Mahela Udawatte (40), skipper Thilan Samaraweera (4) and Jehan Mubarak (6).
Warnapura and Chamara Silva (15) saw their side to lunch without any more damage, but the partnership was over immediately after lunch after the duo was involved in a 48-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Mahesh again stole the limelight by sending back Chamara, who was caught behind the stumps. Sri Lanka 'A' suffered another setback on the same score as Mahesh struck again two balls later to dismiss Upul Chandana.
Scorecard
South Zone 1st innings: 266
Sri Lanka A 1st innings: 327
South Zone 2nd innings
Dinesh Karthik c Samaraweera b Ganegama 95
Robin Uthappa c Samaraweera b Ganegama 141
VVS Laxman c Samaraweera b Ganegama 45
Y Venugopal Rao not out 19
Aambati Rayudu b Ganegama 17
Extras (b 5, lb 7, w 3, nb 1) 16
Total (4 wickets dec; 78 overs) 333
Fall of wickets: 1-167, 2-292, 3-298, 4-333
Bowling: Ganegama 21-2-82-4, Prasad 16-0-64-0, Chandana 27-1-118-0, Lakshitha 10-0-41-0, Mubarak 4-0-16-0
Sri Lanka A 2nd innings (target: 273 runs)
Vandort b Ojha 14
Udawatte c Karthik b Mahesh 40
Warnapura not out 111
Samaraweera c Karthik b Mahesh 4
Mubarak c Ojha b Mahesh 6
Silva c Karthik b Mahesh 15
Chandana c Karthik b Mahesh 0
Silva b Mahesh 65
Ganegama not out 3
Extras (b 8, lb 4, nb 3) 15
Total (7 wickets; 76.4 overs) 273
Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-63, 3-69, 4-83, 5-131, 6-131, 7-268
Bowling: S Sreesanth 16-2-59-0, Reddy 12-2-26-0, Yo Mahesh 15.4-1-71-6, Ojha 23-3-84-1, VVS Laxman 1-1-0-0, Y Venugopal Rao 9-0-21 0
