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. agencies