Duleep Trophy Final: Rahane, Shreyas fail as West Zone manage 250/8 vs South on Day 1

Ajinkya Rahane and KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer, flattered to deceive as South Zone restricted them to 250 for 8 on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy final on Wednesday. It was young Gujarat wicketkeeper Het Patel (96 batting) and his 83-run stand for the ninth wicket with Saurashtra veteran Jaydev Unadkat (39 batting) that helped West recover from a precarious 167 for 8 to a safer 250/8 by the end of 90 overs. But, much was expected of an incredibly strong West's batting line-up that boasts of Rahane (8), Iyer (37), Sarfaraz Khan (34), Yashasvi Jaiswal (1) and current India A captain Priyank Panchal (7).

For South Zone, pacers Basil Thampi (2/42 in 15 overs) and CV Stephen (2/39 in 10 overs) blew away the West top-order within the first half an hour. And then, in-form left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (3/80 in 32 overs) first choked and then ran through the middle-order before lower-order resistance somewhat brought the West back into the game. In the morning, Hanuma Vihari won the toss and wanted to make first use of whatever little help the conditions might offer.

The Andhra left-arm seamer Stephen answered his captain's call as Jaiswal was left poking outside the off-stump and caught by keeper Ricky Bhui. Rahane started with a boundary but old habits came to haunt him as Ravi Teja snapped one in the slip cordon when Kerala speedster Thampi got him to edge one behind the stumps. For right-hander Panchal, Stephen's delivery straightened a touch after pitching and had the India A captain plumb in-front of the stumps.