Dhruv Shorey steered North Zone's charge against North East Zone with a composed century on the first day of the four-day Duleep Trophy quarter-final at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
North Zone were 306/6 in 87 overs at close on the opening after North East Zone opted to field after winning the toss.
Nishant Sindhu also contributed to the total with an unbeaten 76. Delhi man Shorey was in wonderful touch coming into this match after aggregating 859 runs from seven matches in the 2022-23 Ranji season at an astounding average of 95.44 with three hundreds.
In fact, the 31-year-old was the fourth-highest run-getter of Ranji Trophy the previous season, and all of that form and experience reflected in his innings on the day.
Shorey took his time to settle on a clement Bengaluru day as the North East Zone pacers, Jotin Singh, Palzor Tamang and Dippu Sangma, found some help.
They did not have the pace to rattle Shorey and his partner Prashant Chopra, but kept them honest with just enough movement away from the batters.
In fact, the first 15 overs produced just 29 runs. However, once they sussed up the conditions and bowlers, both Shorey and Chopra played more freely as runs that were a trickle began to get heavier.
North Zone went into lunch at 115/2 in 34 overs and even those wickets were a result of batsmen's indiscretion. Chopra tried to leave a ball from Jotin but his attempt to withdraw the bat was delayed, resulting in a played on.
Left-handed Ankit Kalsi could have easily avoided the poke he made against a delivery from Jotin miles away from the off-stump as he had to walk with a golden duck.
In the post-lunch session too, North East Zone got a couple of fortuitous wickets as Prabhsimran Singh's desire to dominate Imliwati Lemtur resulted in a catch by Kishen Mietam.
A little later, Ankit Kumar was snaffled by Sangma as North Zone looked a tad shaky at 162/4 in the 46th over. However, Shorey and Nishant milked 80 runs for the fifth wicket in about 22 overs that released the pressure on North to a good extent.
Left-arm spinner Kishan Singha inflicted two blows in as many balls, jettisoning Shorey and captain Jayant Yadav to reduce North to 242/6.
Still nearly 30 overs remaining, North needed a rescue act and it came from Nishant and Pulkit Narang for the seventh wicket, an association that was worth 64 runs.
It took North to a healthy position when the play for the day was called off due to bad light.
Five-star Murasingh wrecks Central Zone
Pacer Murasingh's five-wicket haul fuelled East Zone's walk to command against Central Zone on Day 1 of their Duleep Trophy quarter-final at the Alur Grounds in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
The Tripura quick bagged 5/42 as East bundled out Central for 182. At close, East were 32/2 and in arrears by 150 runs.
Under overcast skies, Murasingh troubled the Central batsmen with his accuracy and movement. Rinku Singh has been the biggest draw in the Central batting unit, but the left-hander fell to left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem for 38 to fasten their fall.
That Rinku's 38 was the highest individual score for Central on the day underlined their batting woes.
The lone moment of solidity came when Rinku and wicketkeeper batsman Upendra Yadav added 61 runs for the fourth wicket to lift Central from 86/4 to 147.
However, Murasingh snapped that alliance to deal a body blow to Central innings.
The East Zone started off to the worst start possible, losing captain Abhimanyu Easwaran for a nought off the first ball he faced. Pacer Avesh Khan trapped him in front of the wicket.
Avesh added another wicket to his kitty when he won a leg-before appeal against Shantanu Mishra when the batter was on six, and the dismissal giving some solace to Central after a rough day with the bat.
