Excellent fast bowling by Sidharth Trivedi and India Test discard Zaheer Khan enabled West Zone restrict Sri Lanka 'A' to 325 on the first day of the four-day Duleep Trophy match at the Barbati stadium in Cuttack on Friday.
Trivedi returned with figures of 5 for 79 runs while Zaheer, who is struggling to regain his place in the Indian team, had figures of 3 for 76.
Earlier, winning the toss and electing to bat the Sri Lankans started disastrously, losing opener Michael Vandert for naught. But Mahella Udawatte and Malinga Warnapura played confidently on what seemed a good batting track to put up a 69-run partnership before the Warnapura fell to spinner Rajesh Pawar for 40 runs.
The Sri Lankan batsmen had a look in but none of them were able to make a big score. Mahella Udawatte scored fluently before falling to Zaheer for 68 runs.
Among the other batsmen, Chamara Silva was the most impressive, scoring 61 before he too fell leg before to Zaheer.
With wickets falling at regular intervals, Kaushal Silva was left unbeaten on 47.
The Sri Lankan innings folded up at 325.
Scorecard
Sri Lanka 'A' (1st innings):
Michael Vandort b Zaheer Khan 0
Mahella Udawatte c & b Zaheer 68
Malinga Warnapura c Ravinder Jadeja b Rajesh Pawar 40
Thilan Samaraweera c & b Siddharth Trivedi 22
Jehan Mubarak b Siddharth Trivedi 11
Chamara Silva lbw Zaheer 61
Upul Chandana ct Kiran Powar b Rajesh Pawar 28
Koushal Silva not out 47
Rangana Herath c Rohit Sharma b Trivedi 30
Akalanka Ganegama c Parthiv Patel b Trivedi 0
Dhamika Prasad c Rajesh Pawar b Trivedi 4.
Extras: (LB-1, NB-8, W-5) 14
Total: ( 325 for 10 wickets in 88.3 overs)
Fall of Wickets: 1-0, 2-89, 3-124, 4-148, 5-149, 6-237, 7-253, 8-302, 9-305, 10-325.
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 20-2-76-3, Sidharth Trivedi 17.3-2-79-5, Rohit Jadhav 16-4-53-0, Rajesh Pawar 27-3-93-2, Ravinder Jadeja 8-1-23-0.
