A strokeful century by opener Amit Pagnis (142, 25x4) and his 222-run partnership for the second wicket with Jyoti Yadav (87, 9x4) helped Central Zone post a comfortable score of 299 for 3 on the opening day of their Duleep Trophy league match against South Zone played at Lalbhai Contractor stadium in Surat on Thursday.

Put into bat, Central lost their captain Sanjay Bangar (11) with the team score on 30, but Pagnis along with Yadav, took the team to a comfortable total.

Pagnis and Yadav added 222 runs for the second wicket before being separated.

At draw of stumps, Devendra Bundela was unbeaten on 15 while Abbas Ali was giving him company on 25.

For South Zone, S Ram Kumar claimed two wickets while K S Shahbuddin took one wicket.

Scoreboard:

Central Zone first innings:
S Bangar c Kaarthick b Shahbuddin 11
A Pagnis c Badani b Ramkumar 142
J Yadav c Kaarthick b Ramkumar 87
D Bundela not out 15
Abbas Ali not out 25

Extras: (b 1, lb 3, nb 13, w 2) 19

Total: (for three wickets in 90 overs) 299

Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-252, 3/254.

Bowling: L Balaji 14-2-56-0, Vinay Kumar 15-2-55-0, K Shahbuddin 17-3-59-1, Ram Kumar 26-7-57-2, Sreekumar Nair 11-2-32-0, Robin Uthappa 2-0-20-0, Arjun Yadav 4-1-12-0, S Sriram 1-0-4-0.