West Zone bolstered their hopes of making it to the final after restricting North to 254 for eight in the first innings on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy cricket match at Dharamshala on Friday.

Wicketkeeper batsman Pankaj Dharmani's defiant knock of 73 kept North Zone's challenge alive while West enjoyed equal contributions from its balanced bowling attack.

Munaf Patel picked two for 59 as he ripped open the North top order while skipper Sairaj Bahutule (2-45) and off-spinner Ramesh Powar (3-56) cut a swath through the hosts' formidable batting line-up.

Electing to bat, North lost both the openers Akash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir, both falling to Patel, with only 21 on the board.

Dharmani and captain Dinesh Mongia (25) then pushed the score to 77 before the latter fell to Sidharth Trivedi.

Mithun Manhas (21) then supported Dharmani as the two added 54 runs for the fourth wicket, until Powar gave the breakthrough by having Manhas caught by Mane.

North were well served by Sangram Singh (34) and Joginder Sharma (33) in the late order while Sarandeep Singh (33 not out) stretched the innings into the second day.

The play started 90 minutes late due to bad weather.

India international Irfan Pathan could not join the team due to viral fever.

Scoreboard:

North Zone 1st innings:
A Chopra c P Patel b M Patel                  6
G Gambhir LBW b M Patel                     6
P Dharmani LBW b Bahutule                 73
D Mongia c Mane b Trivedi                   25
M Manhas c Mane b Powar                  21
Sangram Singh b Powar                         34
A Ratra c Jadhav b Powar                     15
J Sharma c Jadhav b Bahutule                33
Sarandeep Singh not out                         33
Gagandeep Singh not out                          1

Extras                                              17

Total (for 8 wickets in 82 overs)      254

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-21, 3-77, 4-131, 5-145, 6-168, 7-221, 8-253.

Bowling: Munaf Patel 15-3-59-2, Rakesh Patel 15-1-62-0, Ramesh Powar 23-4-56-3, Sidharth Trivedi 10-1-32-1, Sairaj Bahutule 19-6-45-2.