Sri Lanka A were skittled out for 296, following a devastating bowling display by North Zone's Gagandeep Singh (3 for 67) and Rajesh Sharma (4 for 85), in their first innings on the first day of the Duleep Trophy final at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.
At close, North were 51 for no loss, with Aakash Chopra (39 not out) and Gautam Gambhir (7 not out) at the crease.
North skipper Mithun Manhas put the opposition in on a flat wicket. But the decision was vindicated by some good bowling upfront and, partially, by poor shot selections by a few Sri Lankan batsmen.
Joginder Sharma (2/33) was very impressive with his line and length and put pressure on the opposition top order. He used the early morning conditions to optimum.
Ashish Nehra, on the other hand, was very disappointing, conceding 87 runs in 16 overs.
The visitors were reduced to 3-48 by the 14th over before a 62-run fourth-wicket partnership between Malinda Warnapura (65; 11X4, 1X6) and Jehan Mubarak (39) helped resurrect the innings to some extent.
Warnapura, who recovered from a sore shoulder to play the final, reached his half century in 64 balls. But Gagandeep, coming on his second spell, dismissed him with a widish delivery. Yashpal Singh, at gully, took a blinder.
Off-spinner Sharma then initiated a lower-middle order collapse. First he foxed a well-set Mubarak with one that broke sharply and then added Rangana Herath (17), Dhamika Prasad (7) and Ishara Amarasinghe (0) to his kitty.
In between, Gagandeep accounted for Chamara Silva (84; 13X4), while Kaushal Silva (27) was run-out.
The two batsmen raised hopes for the visitors with an 88-run sixth wicket partnership. Chamara, particularly, was very severe on anything loose. But he would be disappointed with the stroke that brought about his downfall.
Akalanka Ganegama (31 not out) offered some resistance in the tail but ran out of partners. That all-rounder Upul Chandana's hamstring played up and forced him to miss the tie was also a setback for the Islanders.
Chopra attacked from the outset as North began their reply. His innings so far has eight boundaries. Gambhir at the other end was unusually constrained. The two openers complimented each other well.
Scorecard
Sri Lanka A (1st innings):
M Vandort b Joginder Sharma 14
M Udawatte lbw b Gagandeep Singh 1
M Warnapura c Yashpal Singh b Gagandeep Singh 65
T Samaraweera c Rawat b Joginder Sharma 0
J Mubarak b Rajesh Sharma 39
C Silva c Yashpal Singh b Gagandeep Singh 84
K Silva run out 27
R Herath c Rana b Rajesh Sharma 17
A Ganegama run out 31
D Prasad c Manhas b Rajesh Sharma 7
I Amarasinghe lbw b Rajesh Sharma 0
Extras: (lb 3, nb 8) 11
Total: (all out, 69.1 overs) 296
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-42, 3-48, 4-110, 5-144, 6-232, 7-243, 8-271, 9-279.
Bowling: A Nehra 16-0-87-0, Gagandeep 18-4-67-3, Joginder 13-2-33-2, S Rana 6-0-21-0, Rajesh Sharma 16.1-1-85-4.
North Zone (1st innings):
A Chopra batting 39
G Gambhir batting 7
Extras: (lb 4, nb 1) 5
Total (for no wicket, 11 overs): 51
Bowling: Ganegama 5-1-15-0, Prasad 3-0-15-0, Amarasinghe 2-0-8-0, Herath 1-0-9-0.