GUWAHATI, Nov 17 � Taking advantage of overcast weather condition, Hyderabad pacer Anwar Ahmed Khan rocked the Assam first innings removing three top order batsmen and reduced the hosts to 131 for five on the opening day of the four-day Plate Division Ranji Trophy match.
Only 65 overs were possible today as umpires Umesh Dubey and Mukund Mandale called the day�s play off due to poor visibility. Sib Sankar Roy (44) and Dhiraj Goswami (1) were at the crease when bails were taken off.
Put into bat, Assam were in trouble losing both the openers with the scoreboard reading 23. Inform batsman Dhiraj Jadhav today failed to contribute and he was the second Assam batsman to be out at his individual score of 10. His 42-ball innings lasted 54 minutes.
However, the third wicket partnership between Sib Sankar Roy and Tarjinder Singh (20) yielded 44 runs which consolidated Assam�s position a little. Assam�s middle order batsmen tried to repair the early damage but wickets fell at regular intervals at one end. Sib Sankar batted with resolution and executed some good looking shots all round the wicket. He was at the crease for 233 minutes and hit four boundaries. But his partners Rajagopal Satish (27) and skipper Gokul Sharma (8) could not provide him the support according to the demand of the situation. Both Satish and Gokul were out in similar fashion as they fell to the spinners� guile and were stumped.
Young left arm spinner Roshan Alam today made his Ranji debut for Assam. Considering his performance in the recently concluded CK Nayudu Trophy, the Bokakhat player has been included in the team.
SCORECARD
Assam 1st innings: AS Sinha c Khaleel b Anwar Ahmed 9, DS Jadhav c Khaleel b Anwar Ahmed 10, SA Roy not out 44, Tarjinder Singh c Khaleel b Anwar Ahmed 20, R Satish st Khaleel b Lalith Mohan 27, G Sharma st Khaleel b Suman 8, DS Goswami not out 1. Extras: (b 5, lb 6, w 1) 12. Total: (5 wickets; 65 overs) 131. Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-23, 3-67, 4-106, 5-130. Bowling: Anwar Ahmed 14-6-23-3, PKKK Naidu 18-9-29-0, A Lalith Mohan 18-7-37-1, SA Quadri 8-4-18-0, DB Ravi Teja 4-0-9-0, TL Suman 3-1-4-1.
