GUWAHATI, Feb 12 - Reaching a mile stone, Assam will play its first ever semifinal match of the Ranji Trophy. Their opponent will be Saurashtra and the five-day match will be played at the Reliance Cricket Stadium, Vadodra from tomorrow.
In the quarterfinal Assam defeated Punjab while Saurashtra got the better of Vidarbha.
Considering the performance of the Assam team in this season, there is every possibility to take upper hand in the match. Particularly Assam medium pacers Krishna Das and Arup Das are in devastating form and they have the capability of tearing apart any kind of batting line up.
However, the performance of the Assam batsmen, baring Amit Verma, KB Arun Karthik, J Syed Mohammad and Pallav Das, are not very much satisfactory.
On the other hand, Saurashtra will miss the service of Indian star Ravindra Jadeja who is doing his duty for the national team in the T20 series against Sri Lanka. But their batsmen including Sagar Jogiyani, Shildon Jackson and bowlers like Jaydev Unadkat are in good form and Assam has to take these players seriously.
Assam skipper Gokul Sharma is very much confident and hoped that all the players will give their best.
Assam vs Saurashtra: Both the teams had a single encounter in the 2010-11 season. The match was played at Khandheri Cricket Stadium, Rajkot. It was a 4-day match starting from December 15 but it ended on the third day.
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja claimed his 100th first class wicket by dismissing Kunal Saikia. Saurashtra won the toss and elected to bat.
Brief scores: Saurashtra 1st innings 140 all out in 51.4 overs (SH Kotak 44, Ravindra Jadeja 22, Tarjinder Singh 3/13, Sarupam Purkayasthya 2/27).
Assam 1st Innings 127/all out in 48.5 overs (Sarupam Purkayastha 23, Kunal Saikia 18, Ravindra Jadeja 5/23, KR Makwana 4/45.
Saurashtra 2nd innings: 235 all out in 80.3 overs (Ravindra Jadeja 84, Arlen Konwar 4/59).
Assam 2nd innings: 76 all out in 29.3 overs (S Sriram 24, Gokul Sharma 20, KR Makwana 6/22, Ravindra Jadeja 3/25)
Saurashtra won by 172 runs.
Compiled by Tapash Roy,
BCCI scorer and statistician.