GUWAHATI, Jan 30 - Assam suffered an innings and three-run defeat against hosts Odisha as the visitors� batsmen again failed to show courage and were all out for 195 in the second innings. This is Assam�s second consecutive defeat as they went down against Maharashtra by a huge margin of 218 runs at Barsapara here.
On the final day today at the DRIEMS ground in Tangi, Cuttack, Assam resumed their innings at an overnight total of 102 for no loss. The opening pair of Subham Mandal and Kunal Saikia batted in the morning session quite confidently adding 124 runs. But as soon as Kunal was out at his individual score of 72, Assam started losing wickets at regular intervals. Subham was out for 74 and apart from these two, no other batsman could reach double figures.
Medium pacers Suryakant Pradhan, Rajesh Mohanty and Debabrata Pradhan were enough to sweep Assam�s innings.
Assam squandered a good opportunity to save the match as after a bright start all the batsmen should have applied themselves to stay at the crease.
On the other hand, former Ranji captain Rajesh Bora again lashed out regarding the selection policy and questioned coach Ajay Ratra�s game plan.
�Coach Ajay Ratra certainly lacks game plan and the decision to go ahead without a proper spinner in a 4-day match is questionable,� said Bora.
SCORECARD
Odisha 1st Innings: 436
Assam 1st Innings: 238
Assam 2nd Innings (Following on): Subham Mandal c Shantanu Mishra b Rajesh Mohanty 74, Kunal Saikia c SB Pradhan b DB Pradhan 72, Rishav Das c Dhuper b DB Pradhan 7, Gokul Sharma b DB Pradhan 9, Riyan Parag b SB Pradhan 1, Saahil Jain c Shantanu Mishra b SB Pradhan 5, Biplab Saikia c Dhuper b Rajesh Mohanty 1, Ranjit Mali c&b SB Pradhan 1, Pritam Das lbw b Rajesh Mohanty 4, Krishna Das not out 8, Arup Das b Rajesh Mohanty 13. Extras: 0. Total: (All out in 65.4 overs) 195. Fall of wickets:�1-124, 2-138, 3-156, 4-163, 5-163, 6-168, 7-169, 8-174, 9-174, 10-195. Bowling: SB Pradhan 18-3-53-3, Rajesh Mohanty 10.4-3-30-4, B Mohanty 12-3-34-0, DB Pradhan 18-4-53-3, GB Poddar 5-0-24-0, BB Samantray 2-1-1-0.