Bengaluru: Spinners Saransh Jain and Kumar Kartikeya exploited the indecisiveness of South Zone batters to share nine wickets between them to hand Central Zone advantage on the first day of the Duleep Trophy final here on Thursday.
Jain (5/49) and Kartikeya (4/53) bowled 45 overs between them, helping Central bowl out South for a lowly 149 in 63 overs.
Central reached 50 for no loss at stumps, trailing by 99 runs. Danish Malewar (28) and Akshay Wadkar (20) were at crease at the end of the day.
Jain, who bowled 24 overs on the trot, and Kartikeya, who predominantly bowled traditional left-arm spin compared to the wrist-spin variety, were the chief architects of Central’s position of strength.
But the tentative approach of South batters also made the spin twins’ job that much easier.
South entered the panic room as early as in the 16th over, when opener Mohit Kale (6) decided to play a reckless sweep against Kartikeya to get bowled. It started a period of fragility, as South lost three more wickets before lunch to be placed at 64 for four in 33 overs.
But the run out of a solid-looking Tanmay Agarwal (31 off 76 balls) hurt them most in that session as the opener got run out after a mid-pitch collision with his partner Ricky Bhui (15).
Kartikeya soon got rid of Mohammed Azharuddeen with a peach of a delivery that pitched on the middle stump line and turned just enough to disturb the South Zone skipper’s off-stump.
But that was a rare moment of brilliance on the day, as South batters continue to live in their own castle of uncertainty even in the post-lunch session.
The dismissal of Andre Siddarth was an example of the doubt-ridden minds of South batters.
The Tamil Nadu batter, who essayed a velvety flick off Kartikeya, was deceived on the flight while on a pre-meditative charge against the left-arm spinner only to get stumped by Upendra Yadav, who did well to collect a ball that bounced well above his waist.
Salman Nizar (24) was the last hope of South Zone to push the total towards the 200-run mark, but the Kerala batter perished to a half-hearted prod against Jain.
A nothing push against the off-spinner resulted in a thick edge that popped out of the silly point fielder but Central skipper Rajat Patidar at gully was too alert to miss the rebound.
Once Nizar was jettisoned, the South did not have much fight to offer as Jain duly completed his ninth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, and second in as many matches after his 5 for 84 effort against West Zone in the Duleep Trophy semifinals here last week.
Central on charge
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Central openers Malewar and Akshay Wadkar were everything that the South Zone batters were not on the day — confident and judging the ball path correctly.
There were occasional play and misses and loud leg before appeals as one would expect on an overcast day but that did not affect the Central batters’ focus during their ongoing 50-run alliance.
Malewar was impressive in particular while hammering pacer Gurjapneet Singh for two fours in a row — a cover drive and a pull in the seventh over.
