Fine centuries by Laxmi Ratam Shukla (123) and skipper Sourav Ganguly (110 not out) put East Zone on course for a huge total against Bangladesh Board XI on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy league match in Nagpur today.
At stumps, East Zone in a commanding position at 356 for five after being put in to bat on a lively track.
Shukla, who was dropped on 22 by Sahajada Hossain at point, made the most of the chance as he launched a blistering attack on Bangladesh bowlers in the company of India captain Ganguly.
Shukla was on the rampage right from the start, hitting as many as 16 fours and five huge sixes during his entertaining knock.
Ganguly, eager to gain valuable batting practice before the forthcoming Pakistan series, crafted a patient innings, displaying his characteristic drives and cuts on the off side. He hit four fours and one six.
East Zone lost opener S S Das (4) early as he was caught behind off paceman Anwar Hossain. Arindam Das (43) then combined with M S Dhoni (51) to put the innings on track before both fell to left arm spinner Abdur Razzak.
Rohan Gavaskar (13) struggled against both pace and spin before eventually falling to Razzak.
The largely inexperienced Bangladesh bowlers bowled well in patches but lacked penetration. Talha Jubair and Hossain chipped in with a wicket each but East Zone were hardly tested. Razzak emerged the most successful bowler with figures of 3 for 98.
Scorecard
East Zone (1st innings):
S S Das c G Shahgir b A Hossain 4
Arindam Das c G Shagir b A Razzak 43
M S Dhoni c A Chowdhury b A Razzak 51
R Gavaskar c M Ashraful b A Razzak 13
S Ganguly batting 110
L R Shukla lbw T Jubair 123
S Sanyal batting 2.
Extras: (b-1, lb-7, w-2) 10
Total: (for 5 wkts, 90 overs) 356
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-72, 3-100, 4-126, 5-331
Bowling: Anwar Hossain 19-5-52-1, S Hossain 15-2-69-0, Talha Jubair 15-3-58-1, Aftab Chowdhury 1-0-7-0, Abdur Razzak 28-2-98-3, Shabbir Khan 5-0-23-0, Mansoor Islam 5-0-20-0, Mohammad Ashraful 2-0-21-0.
