GUWAHATI, Nov 10 � Batsmen let Assam down again as on the opening day of the four-day Elite Group Ranji Trophy match against Railways, they were struggling at 174 for seven.
Opting to bat first at Delhi�s Karnail Singh Stadium today, Assam were at the receiving end from the very beginning losing both the openers Dhiraj Jadhav (9) and Parvez Aziz (0) with the team�s total at 15. Later, the middle order tried to stem the rot with some cautious batting. Skipper Amol Mazumdar (44) and S Sriram (31) added 54 runs for the fourth wicket partnership which gave some respectability to the Assam total.
Later Amol had a 37-run partnership with Deepak Sharma (21) for the fifth wicket and finally the seventh wicket partnership between Tarjinder Singh (34 batting) and Kunal Saikia (23) yeilded 43 runs.
Basically due to these partnerships the visitors managed to cross the 150 mark on a tricky wicket. Now lot will depend on Tarjinder�s batting who is in good shape this season. Tail enders have to provide support to this batsman if they have to cross the 200 mark. Prakash Bhagat today made his Ranji debut.
Former India player Murali Karthik mainly did the damage to the Assam innings with a four-wicket haul. JP Yadav, S Bangar and M Suresh took one wicket each.
SCORECARD
Assam 1st innings: DS Jadhav lbw b Bangar 9, P Aziz c Rawat b Yadav 0, S Sriram c Goud b Kartik 31, AA Muzumdar c Singh b Suresh 44, Deepak Sharma lbw b Kartik 21, Tarjinder Singh not out 34, KN Saikia c Cheluvaraj b Kartik 23, DS Goswami st Rawat b Kartik 1, A Konwar not out 6. Extras: (lb 1, w 1, nb 3) 5. Total: (7 wickets; 92 overs) 174. Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-15, 3-69, 4-106, 5-118, 6-161, 7-163. Bowling: Jai P Yadav 20-7-36-1, SB Bangar 16-8-20-1, M Kartik 30-11-47-4, K Upadhyay 5-1-13-0, KS Parida 9-0-37-0, M Suresh 12-6-20-1.
