Lucknow: India Green got off to a rollicking start in a must-win game by bowling out India Blue for a paltry 177, lea by off-spinner Parvez Rassol’s five-wicket before finishing the day at 100 for 3 in the Duleep Trophy encounter.
Courtesy Rasool's 5/70 in 17 overs, the ninth five-wicket haul of his career and left-arm medium pacer Aniket Chaudhary's (3/18 in 12 overs), the Blues could only bat for 52 overs after winning the toss.
Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary was the only significant contributor scoring 78 off 138 balls with 12 boundaries and a six. Skipper Suresh Raina (40) got set before being dismissed by Rasool.
The Tiwary-Raina third wicket stand yielded 90 runs for the third wicket after Chaudhary had removed both openers Kona Bharat (10) and Samit Gohil (1) to reduce Blues to 16 for 2.
Cruising comfortably at 106 for 2, there was a sudden collapse with Blues tottering at 125 for 5.
Tiwary tried to battle it out but there was no support from the other end.
When Green team batted, openers Nitin Saini (25) and Kaushik Gandhi (39) added 53 for the opening stand but then both were dismissed along with Prashant Chopra (26).
Senior India speedster Ishant Sharma, playing a first- class match after six months, was steady in return, taking 1 for 15 in seven overs.
Apart from Ishant, who dismissed Saini in his second spell, seamer Pankaj Singh and off-spinner Akshay Wakhare got a wicket apiece.
Brief Scores: India Blue: 177 in 52 overs (Manoj Tiwary 78, Parveez Rasool 5/70, Aniket Chaudhary 3/18)
India Green: 100/3 (Kaushik Gandhi 39, Ishant Sharma 1/15).