Saransh Jain, Kumar Kartikeya hand Central big advantage

Saransh Jain bagged his second successive five-wicket haul, while Kumar Kartikeya finished with a four-for as the Central Zone spinners ran through South Zone on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy final.

Under cloudy skies and on a surface with a greenish tinge, Jain picked 5 for 49 and Kartikeya returned 4 for 53 to bowl out South Zone for 149 in 63 overs at BCCI's Centre of Excellence. In reply, the Central Zone openers Danish Malewar and Akshay Wadkar were steady in their approach before bad light ended the first day early.

At stumps, Central Zone were on 50 for 0, trailing South Zone by just 99 runs.

South Zone's new opening pair of Mohit Kale and Tanmay Agarwal weathered the new-ball storm, adding 24 runs in 15 overs. When spin was introduced in the 16th over, Kale's went for a slog, only to be cleaned up by Kartikeya.

Soon after, R Smaran swiped Kartikeya across the line, but could only manage a top-edge and was caught at square leg 1.

There were immediate signs of extra zip and bounce for both Kartikeya and Jain, who operated in tandem. South Zone then lost Tanmay Agarwal through a run-out. Looking for a second run, Tanmay and Ricky Bhui collided in the middle and the former was found well short.

Kartikeya struck for a third time when South Zone captain Mohammed Azharuddeen was squared up and bowled for 4 as South Zone went to lunch at 64 for 4. Jain joined in on the wicket-taking fun after lunch, trapping Bhui lbw.

Salman Nizar took 13 balls to get off the mark by going on the assertive against Kartikeya, striking for a six and four. C Andre Siddarth also clipped Kartikeya through mid-on for four. But aggression got the better of Siddarth when he waltzed down to Jain, got beaten in the flight and was stumped as South Zone slipped to 97 for 6. That became 116 for 7 when Jain got a length ball to kick off the surface, rapping Nizar's gloves, with Patidar taking a low catch at slip.

Kartikeya then picked his fourth trapping Gurjapneet Singh lbw. Vasuki Koushik and Ankit Sharma tried to delay the end, but Jain picked his fifth wicket with a straight delivery that breached Ankit's defences and trapped him in front.

South Zone started with the spin of Ankit at one end and the left-arm pace of Gurjapneet at the other.

Wadkar and Malewar hit Gurjapneet for three fours in an over to kickstart the charge as they reached the 50 mark in 17 overs. There was an appeal for lbw by Ankit against Wadkar but replays suggested that the ball would have clearly missed leg stump.

Koushik got the ball to move around late in the day, but the two batters hung on.