Captain Shiv Sunder Das (82) and wicketkeeper Haladhar Das (78 not out) ensured East Zone reach a respectable total (265/7) at close of play on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy Group A match at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
The Orissa duo, each of whom had a century to their credit in the just concluded Ranji Trophy season, scored contrasting centuries to wrest the early momentum from South Zone. If patience was the hallmark of SS Das' innings he batted for a little more than four hours then Haladhar to the attack to the opposition with some lusty hitting.
An early morning drizzle meant that the match started 105 minutes ahead of the scheduled time and subsequently only 10 overs of play was possible before lunch, and 79 overs in the course of the day's play. SS Das called it right and opted to bat first and considering the manner things went early on it looked to be a wrong decision.
Opener Arindam Das was trapped in front in only the day's third over by Karnataka paceman R Vinay Kumar who finished the just-concluded Ranji Trophy season with an impressive 40 wickets in his kitty even before he had opened his account. East Zone went into lunch at 20/1.
However, it was the session between lunch and tea that East Zone suffered the most, losing four more wickets while adding only 119 runs. First to fall was Anustup Majumdar (19), caught at first slip by Murali Vijay off NSC Aiyappa, when the total was 46.
In came Niranjan Behera and he straightaway smashed two balls to the fence. But that was just about it as Aiyappa forced him to edge one to keeper LN Prasad Reddy. Jharkhand's Manish Vardhan (20) combined well with Das and the pair put on a 48-run partnership for the fourth wicket, in the process taking the East Zone total past the 100-run mark. However, Vinay Kumar induced an edge from Vardhan and Murali Vijay made no mistake at first slip.
Spinner R Ashwin soon had Palash Jyoti Dash (14) snapped up by Swapnil Asnodkar at short leg as East Zone went into the tea-break precariously placed at 139/5.
However, in the midst of the ruins skipper SS Das stood tall, reaching his half-century off 107 balls, the highlight being three straight boundaries off Vinay Kumar.
And it was his resilience that resonated among his remaining teammates as the final session of play witnessed East Zone adding 126 runs to their total losing only two wickets in the process.
Haladhar Das, who came in just before tea, was aggression personified in his unbeaten 78, a knock that came in 128 balls and had as many as 13 hits to the fence.
Murali Vijay took his third catch of the day off Ashwin to dismiss SS Das (82) and it would be suffice to say that the East Zone captain was unfortunate to miss out on a century or as he later put it himself "disappointed to get out after batting so well with the new ball."
Haladhar then put on an impressive 71-run stand off just 81 balls for the seventh wicket with Tushar Saha (29) and looked set for a second century of this season after his 100 against Punjab in the Ranji Trophy Super League tie. And that is exactly what his captain expects from him now.
"If Haladhar can go on to score a century and we get a total in excess of 320, then we will be on a good wicket considering the amount of bowling experience we have," said SS Das. The East Zone skipper also defended his decision to bat first.
"I would have definitely liked to have a bowl had the match started as schedule," he explained. "After the delay the initial advantage the bowlers would have had was negated. At the end of the day we are happy with our efforts."
Scorecard:
East Zone (1st innings):
SS Das c Vijay b Ashwin 82
A Das lbw b Vinay Kumar 0
A Majumdar c Vijay b Aiyappa 19
N Behera c Reddy b Aiyappa 8
M Vardhan c Vijay b Vinay Kumar 20
PJ Das c Asnodkar b Ashwin 14
H Das not out 78
T Saha c Ojha b Vijay Kumar 29
D Mohanty not out 6
Extras: (lb 4, nb 5) 9
Total: (for seven wickets in 79 overs) 265
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-46, 3-54, 4-102, 5-134, 6-170, 7-241
Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 15-4-64-2, N Aiyappa 15-1-60-2, P Vijay Kumar 16-5-38-1, P Ojha 18-3-48-0, R Ashwin 13-1-48-2, S Badrinath 2-1-3-0