Pacer Murasingh’s five-wicket haul fuelled East Zone’s walk to command against Central Zone on Day 1 of their Duleep Trophy quarterfinal here at the Alur Grounds on Wednesday.
The Tripura quick bagged 5 for 42 as East bundled out Central for 182. At close, East were 32 for 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 for 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.
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