CUTTACK, Oct 15: Odisha pace spearhead Basant Mohanty bagged a five-wicket haul to help skittle out Assam for 92, but the hosts were also in trouble after losing five wickets on the opening day of the Group A Ranji Trophy cricket encounter here today.
Put into bat on what seems a perfect bowling track at the Barabati Stadium, Mohanty wreaked havoc in the visiting camp, but soon the hosts found themselves in trouble at 52 for five at stumps. The Biplab Samantray-led side still trail by 40 runs.
Assam medium-pacer Krishna Das also came up with a befitting reply by bagging four wickets so far and the hosts� top-order were left clueless.
Anurag Sarangi (7 not out) and Abhilash Mallick (4 not out) are still fighting on as opener Natraj Behera (23) remains the top-scorer till now.
Earlier put into bat, the Gokul Sharma-led Assam saw two ducks in their innings as Amit Verma top-scored with 20.
Mohanty�s fifer was also backed up by Suryakant Pradhan and Alok Chandra Sahoo, who bagged two wickets apiece.
Scorecard
Assam 1st innings: PP Das c Podder b Sahoo 14, KN Saikia b Pradhan 4, G Sharma c Sarangi b Mohanty 0, Amit Verma c Sahoo b Mangaraj 20, KB Arun Karthik b Mohanty 3, Tarjinder Singh b Mohanty 17, J Syed Mohammad b Mohanty 14, S Purkayastha c P Roshan Kumar Rao b Sahoo 0, PL Das c Sarangi b Pradhan 1, AK Das b Mohanty 8, K Das not out 6. Extras: (lb 1, nb 4) 5. Total: (all out; 52.4 overs) 92. Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-5, 3-27, 4-36, 5-54, 6-74, 7-75, 8-78, 9-78, 10-92. Bowling: B Mohanty 14.4-6-24-5, SB Pradhan 10-1-33-2, AK Sahoo 12-6-18-2, A Mangaraj 7-2-13-1, BB Samantray 9-7-3-0.
Odisha 1st innings: Natraj Behera c Saikia b K Das 23, RR Dhuper c Tarjinder Singh b K Das 0, GB Podder b K Das 0, AR Sarangi not out 7, PP Das c Saikia b K Das 8, BB Samantray c Saikia b AK Das 5, A Mallick not out 4. Extras: (b 4, nb 1) 5. Total: (5 wickets; 32 overs) 52. Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-22, 3-23, 4-31, 5-44. Bowling: AK Das 10-5-33-1, K Das 11-8-5-4, PP Das 5-3-3-0, PL Das 6-2-7-0. � PTI
