After opening with back-to-back bogeys, Lahiri made amends to sink in six birdies and an eagle against a couple of more dropped strokes to be three shots off the pace at the USD 300,000 event.

Rahil Gangjee was the only other Indian inside top-10 after carding a 68 to be tied for the 10th spot.

Digvijay Singh was a stroke adrift of Gangjee at tied 15th. C Muniyappa and veteran Gaurav Ghei were tied for the 34th position after returning identical 71s. Further down Himmat Rai’s 73 saw him tied 54th.

The biggest disappointment of the day was, however, Bhullar, who lost his way after a fine start.

The Kapurthala-pro, who finished runners-up at last week’s Asian Tour event in Brunei, struck a hat-trick of birdies between the fourth and sixth holes but his fortunes nosedived soon after.

A double bogey on the seventh was followed by another dropped shot on the eighth. Things didn’t improve in the back nine either and he stumbled to three bogeys against a lone birdie to round off a disappointing day at the tied 80th spot.

Chiragh Kumar (76) and Manav Jani (77) were tied 109th and 121st respectively. At the top,  Malaysia’s Danny Chia (64) seized a one-stroke first round lead over Asian Tour rookie Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand at Seri Selangor Golf Club.

Leading scores (after 18 holes): 64: Danny Chia (Mal); 65: Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha); 66: James Kamte (RSA), Iain Steel (Mal), Darren Beck (Aus); 67: Jbe Kruger (RSA), Shaaban Hussin (MAS), Anirban Lahiri (Ind), Noh Seung-yul (Kor); 68: Rahil Gangjee (Ind), Pariya Junhasavasdikul (Tha), Rick Kulacz (Aus), Mitchell Brown (Aus), Panuwat Muenlek (Tha).