GUWAHATI, Nov 15 - Making a electrifying beginning Assam finally had to squander, the early advantage on the opening day of the four-day Group A Ranji Trophy match against fancied Delhi.
Winning a good toss Gokul Sharma asked the opponent to bat first and skittled out Delhi for 149, Assam were 69 for three at stumps.
The Barpeta duo of Krishna Das and Arup Das gave the hosts a dream opening reducing Delhi to 8 for the loss of four wickets at the Barsapara cricket stadium here today. Opener Unmukt Chand, who is the captain of the India A team, was trapped leg before by Krishna off the very first ball of the day. Then onwards the visiting team lost three more wickets in quick successions. However, a 63-run fifth wicket partnership between Milind Kumar (45) and Puneet Bisht (23) consolidated their position.
Manan Sharma was their top scorer with unbeaten 46. Apart from these three, Pradeep Sangwan (12) was the only other batsman to reach double figure in Delhi�s innings.
Both Krishna and Arup were in devastating form in the opening session and taking full advantage of the morning moisture the pacers ripped through the Delhi top order. Krishna took four while Arup bagged three. Medium pacer Pallav Das, spinners Syed Mohammad and Amit Verma were the other wicket takers for Assam.
But the Assam batsmen could not capitalise the advantage provided by the bowlers and were reduced to 69 for three. They unnecessarily went for rush shots against medium pacers Pradeep Sangwan and Navdeep Saini who took two and one wicket respectively.
At close Skipper Gokul Sharma and Arun Karthik were at the crease with 22 and 19 respectively.
Before start of the match, the players of both the teams and the officials condoled the death of former India U-19 and Assam Ranji player Hemanga Baruah.
SCORECARD
Delhi 1st innings: Unmukt Chand lbw b Krishna Das 0, Gautam Gambhir c Tarjinder Singh b Arup Das 4, DR Shorey b Krishna Das 1, N Rana c Arun Karthik b Krishna Das 0, Milind Kumar c Saikia b Pallav Das 45, P Bisht c Arun Karthik b Krishna Das 23, Manan Sharma not out 46, PJ Sangwan c Hazarika b Arup Das 12, P Awana b AK Das 5, P Narang c Arun Karthik b Syed Mohammad 8, NA Saini c Hazarika b Amit Verma 4. Extras: (b 1) 1; Total: (all out; 59.4 overs) 149. Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-6, 3-6, 4-8, 5-71, 6-74, 7-94, 8-99, 9-142, 10-149. Bowling: Krishna Das 20-6-38-4, Arup Das 19-4-49-3, J Syed Mohammad 4-0-18-1, Pallav Das 6 -0-13-1, Sarupam Purkayastha 5-0-16-0, Amit Verma 5.4-1-14-1.
Assam 1st innings: Pallav Das lbw b Saini 8, Rahul Hazarika c Bisht b Sangwan 19, Gokul Sharma not out 22, Amit Verma c Milind Kumar b Sangwan 0, KB Arun Karthik not out 19. Extras: (lb 1) 1. Total: (3 wickets; 29 overs) 69. To bat: Arup Das, Sarupam Purkayastha, J Syed Mohammad, Tarjinder Singh, Krishna Das, Kunal Saikia. Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-36, 3-36. Bowling: P Awana 6-3-10-0, NA Saini 7-1-18-1, P Narang 7-2-27-0, PJ Sangwan 4-3-1-2, Manan Sharma 5-2-12-0.
