SS Das and Halhadar Das lift East Zone

East Zone 265 for 7 (SS Das 82, Halhadar Das 78*) v South Zone
Scorecard

Half-centuries by Shiv Sunder Das and Halhadar Das lifted East Zone to 265 for 7 on the first day at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai against South Zone. SS Das, the former Indian opener, scored a patient 82 at the top before Halhadar Das stepped in and led a lower-order revival after East lost half their side for 134.

After they chose to bat first, East lost opener Arindam Das early, leg before to the seamer Vinay Kumar, and the top order failed to construct sizeable partnerships. NSC Aiyappa, the Karnataka seamer, struck twice in quick succession to reduce East to 54 for 3 before SS Das and Manish Vardhan added 48. SS Das was involved in stands of 32 and 36 with Palash Das and Halhadar respectively before edging offspinner R Ashwin to M Vijay at the slips for 82. He faced 160 balls and hit 12 fours in his knock.

Halhadar and Tushar Saha settled down to construct the biggest stand of the day - 71 - before Saha fell to a brisk 29 off 39 balls to the seamer P Vijay Kumar. Halhadar remained unbeaten on 78 with Debasis Mohanty for company.

Central Zone 238 for 7 (Kaif 64, Richardson 2-32) v England Lions
Scorecard

Mohammad Kaif top scored with 64 to propel Central Zone to a healthy position at 179 for 3 before England Lions picked up quick wickets in the last session to restrict the hosts to 238 for 7 by the end of the opening day's play at Vadodara.

Walking in at 70 for 2, Kaif struck 13 fours in his 121-ball knock to charge Central before he fell to the legspinner Adil Rashid, triggering a mini-collapse. Monty Panesar prised out Sanjay Bangar, the former India International, and Harshad Rawle and Mahesh Rawat fell in quick succession.

Earlier, Central were off to a steady start, reaching 54 runs without any loss, before Steve Kirby removed Faiz Fazal (37) in the 19th over. Five overs later, Onions made further inroads, but the opener Vineet Saxena settled the nerves, adding 54 runs with Kaif.

Saxena fell after scoring a 116-ball 34, but Bangar nad Kaif pushed the total to 179 before Rashid got Kaif to bring the Lions roaring back into the game. But Sanjib Sanyal, who has a first-class average of 43.35, guided Central to the close without any further damage.