Badri,Pandey steer South into final

However,Badrinath led from the front,hitting 13 fours and a six in his knock,as he added 108 runs for the fourth wicket with Karnataka batsman Pandey 59. Badri looked all set for a century but fell 18 short of the mark when he edged a Jalaj Saxena delivery to the wicketkeeper.

R Ashwin,who had earlier taken six wickets,stroked a sparkling unbeaten half century 59 off just 44 balls that included 12 hits to the fence as South coasted to 293 for five in 70.2 overs.

For Central,left-arm seamer RP Singh took two wickets while Praveen Kumar,who had picked up five wickets in the first innings,settled for one.

South will now take on West Zone in the final,which begins on February 2 in Hyderabad.

Brief scores: South Zone 295 Ashwin 58,Gautam 52,Praveen 5-82 and 293 for 5 Badrinath 82,Ashwin 59,Pandey 59 beat Central Zone 333 Kaif 112,Chawla 90,Vinay Kumar 5-102,Mithun 3-64 and 252 Raina 59,Chawla 56,Ashwin 6-67 by 5 wickets