Defending champions North Zone were restricted to 260 for 7 on the opening day of the four-day Duleep Trophy match against East Zone at the Madhav Rao Scindia Grounds, in Rajkot, on Monday.
North looked heading for a collapse as their top order batsmen failed against some fine bowling by East's bowlers, led by Shib Shankar Paul, leaving them reeling on 28 for three. However, captain Mithun Manhas and Yashpal Singh put on 54 runs for the fourth wicket to stem the rot.
North, who elected to bat after winning the toss, saw openers Akash Chopra and Shikhar Dhawan struggle against some tight bowling by medium pacers Debasis Mohanty, Ranadeb Bose and Shib Shankar Paul. They put up only 20 runs in 18 overs before Paul struck in the 19th over, bowling Chopra with a beautiful in-swinger for 10 runs.
Karan Goel was also bowled by Paul for naught.
Mohanty then struck, having Shikhar Dhawan (18) caught behind by Haladar Das. That left North reeling at 28 for 3.
Manhas and Singh added 54 runs before the latter was caught behind by Das off Paul after scoring 25, inclusive of four boundaries, off 52 balls.
Rajat Bhatia joined the skipper and both added 79 runs for the fifth wicket before he was caught at long-off by S S Das for 24 that included three boundaries.
At the tea break, the score was 174-5; captain Manhas was unbeaten on 88 and Uday Kaul on 7.
But Manhas was caught at long-off by substitute S Sarkar off spinner Niranjan Behra after the tea break without adding to his score. His 131-ball essay was studded with 13 fours and a mighty six.
Kaul and Amit Mishra put on 76 runs for the seventh wicket before the latter was brilliantly caught at deep third man by Wriddhman Saha off Paul. He scored 52 runs, inclusive of seven fours and a six, off 86 balls.
At stumps, Kaul and Chetanya Nanda were unbeaten on 40 and 0 respectively.
For East Zone, Paul bowled with fire to capture four wickets for 60 runs while Mohanty took two for 28. Spinner N Behra accounted for one, conceding 38 runs.
Brief scores:
North Zone (first innings): 260 for 7 in 90 overs (M Manhas 88, U Kaul not out 40, A Mishra 52; S S Paul 4-60, D Mohanty 2-28, N Behra 1-38).
