Despite a late start because of fog and bad light,it only took Ranadeb Bose and Ashoke just two overs to make the Central Zone stars realise that they face a charged up opposition. The pacer two exploited the conditions early on after East skipper Saurabh Tiwary chose to bowl first. Bose dismissed Tanmay Srivastava for nought on the last ball of the first over,caught behind. And in the very next over Jalaj Saxena was pouched by Manoj Tiwary in the second slip off Dinda. Dinda was not done yet and send back Sanjay Bangar,who had scored overs 500 runs for Railways in the Ranji Trophy,as the Central Zones scorecard read 9 for 3 after the sixth over. But after the woeful start,their recovery was impressive. At stumps Central were comfortably placed at 150 for 3 in 38 overs,with Suresh Raina batting on 83 and skipper Mohammad Kaif unbeaten on 65. At the time when Bose and Dinda were threatening to run away with the game,the Uttar Pradesh duo soaked up all the pressure and ensured that their team ended on a sound footing. By the time the umpires called stumps on Day One for want of light,the two had added 141 runs for the unbeaten fourth-wicket stand. Raina and Kaif were resolute and took time to get going but the moment bowlers tired and erred,the duo took full advantage of lose deliveries. Raina looked in sublime touch,hitting 15 boundaries and one towering six. Kaif hit 10 fours. Raina got a let off when on 66,he was grassed by spinner Sourasish Lahiri of his own bowling.
