South Zone skipper Dinesh Karthik has scored unbeaten century against West Zone in the final of the Duleep Trophy as South Zone scored 356 runs for loss of nine wickets at the end of the first day of the test match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Karthik won the toss in the morning and opted to bat first. South Zone was looking in great trouble with both their opener back in the pavilion with just 34 runs on the board. But Karthik held one end and smashed unbeaten 161 runs to lead his team to a good total.

Karthik and C Gautam (49) added 121 runs for the fifth wicket. G Satish also batted brilliantly and scored 53 runs.

Irfan Pathan was the most successful bowler for West zone who took three wickets while Ravinder Jadeja picked up two wickets. D Kulkarni also chipped in with one wicket.