Indore, Feb 12: Ashok Dinda (four for 29) and Shami Ahmed (four for 73) ran through the Central Zone line-up on Day 1 of the 2011 Duleep Trophy final, skittling them out for 133. At stumps, East had wiped out 88 of those runs, losing three wickets in the bargain.

East captain Wriddhiman Saha won the toss and had no hesitation in sending the opposition in on Indore’s green top. His frontline pacers responded brilliantly to the move. Ahmed struck to remove in-form opener Vineet Saxena before Dinda got rid of Mohammad Kaif. The procession of wickets continued as eight of Central’s batsmen failed to reach the double-figure mark. Naman Ojha top-scored with 44; he was followed by Mohnish Mishra (21) and Piyush Chawla (26) who failed to convert their starts into substantial scores.

The East Zone bowlers made the most of the assistance they received from the track by maintaining an immaculate line and length and cramping the batsmen for room. Most of them were either wrapped on their pads, caught behind or in the slips.

After folding for 133, Central Zone were desperate for early wickets, which they duly managed to get in the form of openers Manish Vardhan (4) and Dheeraj Jadhav (11). TP Sudhindra (two for 25) and Rituraj Singh (one for 23) shared the three East wickets to fall on the opening day. Anustup Majumdar was unbeaten on 46, in the company of his skipper Saha (14), at stumps.

Scorecard