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North struggles on day one

Special Correspondent

Rajkot: Debasis Mohanty (two for 28) and Shib Shankar Paul (four for 60) starred for East Zone on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy contest against North Zone at the Race Course Ground here on Monday. After opting to bat, defending champion North Zone was reduced to 260 for seven at the close of play as Mohanty and Paul bowled tirelessly on a flat wicket.

North openers Aakash Chopra and Shikhar Dhawan struggled for well over an hour before falling to the perseverance and skill of Paul and Mohanty. East’s first success came after an hour and 23 minutes when Paul found the gap to hit Chopra’s off-stump. No. 3 Goel followed next as he nicked the ball on to his stumps while the other opener Dhawan was caught off Mohanty’s bowling.

Crucial partnerships

Skipper Mithun Manhas, who used his feet to deal with left-arm spinner Tushar Saha, got fine support from Yashpal Singh, as North Zone put up some resistance.

Yashpal, however, was caught brilliantly by wicketkeeper Haladhar Das as he played a reckless shot off a high bouncer from Shib Shankar Paul. Shiv Sundar Das then latched on to a sharp chance with his left hand at first slip to snap up Rajat Bhatia, who had put on 79 with Manhas for the fifth wicket.

Manhas (88, 184m, 131b, 13x4, 1x6) demonstrated his supremacy against the spinners and looked in fine touch, playing some fine shots straight down the ground off Ranadeb Bose, before substitute Sourav Sarkar took a spectacular running catch around the deep mid-off area to end his stay at the crease.

The seventh wicket pair of Uday Kaul and Amit Mishra displayed common sense. They had added 76 runs before Wriddhiman Saha at thirdman produced another gem of a catch to bring an end to a fighting and attacking innings from Mishra (52, 91m, 86b, 7x4, 1x6) after the right hander attempted an upper cut off Paul operating with the second new ball.

The Punjab wicketkeeper Kaul has batted for a little over two hours to remain undefeated on 40, and North Zone will look to him to put up a fighting total on Tuesday.

North Zone — 1st innings: A. Chopra b Paul 10, S. Dhawan c H. Das b Mohanty 18, K. Goel b Paul 0, M. Manhas c sub (Sourav Sarkar) b Behera 88, Yashpal Singh c H. Das b Paul 25, R. Bhatia c S. S. Das b Mohanty 24, U. Kaul (batting) 40, A. Mishra c W. Saha b Paul 52, C. Nanda (batting) 0; Extras (nb-3): 3; Total (for seven wkts. in 90 overs): 260.

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-28, 3-28, 4-82, 5-161, 6-183, 7-259.

East Zone bowling: Mohanty 16-9-28-2, Bose 17-2-49-0, Paul 21-6-60-4, Saha 16-2-75-0, Behera 17-1-38-1, Majumdar 3-0-10-0.

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