But, by then, it was too late for East Bay who had let the Indians off the hook.
East Bay's top wicket-taker of the season, Joel Matthews, asked plenty of questions early on, taking two wickets in his fifth over, but the Indians recovered well to post an imposing total - even without the services of their top batsman, Bharat Popli, who was playing Hawke Cup cricket for the Bay of Plenty.
The 135-run win leaves the Indians at the bottom of the table but with renewed confidence for their remaining games. Indian opening batsmen Sanjay Unka said a few of the boys were in the dog box yesterday after a long night of celebrations.
"It's a pretty good feeling. A few of us celebrated into the night and it was great to get a win at the bone. "It was a wicket that if you got yourself in you could get set and score some runs."
East Bay did themselves no favours with the ball, with a total of 18 wides and five no-balls bowled in their 50 overs.
None of their batsmen stayed in the middle long enough to provide support for No 5 batsman T Yates, who was left stranded on 38 not out from 44 balls.
East Bay lost an early wicket and had looked to recover with a second wicket stand of 61 but lost their remaining 9 wickets for just 77 runs after a sublime spell of bowling from captain Prashant Dhanjee, ably supported by Praful Morarji, who took 3 wickets.
It was a fine all-round display by the Indians, who proved they could compete at the premiership level.
Bay of Plenty Indians 283 for 8 from 50 overs. B Das 23, S Bhimjiyani 96, P Dhanjee 92. S Ford 45 for 4 from 10 overs, J Matthews 53 for 2 from 10 overs; beat East Bay United 148 from 33.4 overs. M Carter 32, S Ford 24, T Yates 38 not out. P Dhanjee 5 for 32 from 10 overs, P Morarji 3 for 25 from 6.4 overs. Indians won by 135 runs.