GUWAHATI, Dec 2 - International Ashok Dinda came out with a devastating opening spell and removed top four Assam batsmen with scoreboard reading just one run.
On the second day of the four-day Group A Ranji Trophy match at the Barsapara cricket stadium here today, Bengal, resuming at the overnight total of 191 for four, declared at 444 for the loss of six wickets.
Overnight unbeaten batsman Laxmi Ratan Shukla was out for 21 but other not out batsman Shreevats Goswami and number seven Pankaj Shaw completely dominated the proceeding and toyed with the Assam bowling. They added 174 runs for the sixth wicket and the partnership virtually ended Assam's hope of restricting the opponent within 300.
Stumper Goswami remained unbeaten with 112 off 253 deliveries. His solid knock was studded with 11 boundaries. Shaw was also equally played a dominating role after settling down. But unfortunately he missed his ton by one run as he was trapped leg before by J Syed Mohammad for 99. Aamir Abdul Gani was the other not out batsman with 33.
But it was very disappointing beginning for Assam as the top four batsmen fell like nine pins. Opener Pallav Das was out off the very first ball and Dinda struck again with the last ball of the over. This time his victim was skipper Gokul Sharma. In his next over Dinda took the wickets of Rahul Hazarika (1st ball) and night watch man Arup Das (4th ball).
The wicket looked easy when Bengal batsmen were batting today. Assam medium pacers Krishna Das and Arup Das were quite unimpressive today as the spinners were. Even than Dinda managed to tear apart the Assam frontliners. He made full use of his experience and took advantage of afternoon moisture. But the host team openers had to be cautious as there were very few over remaining. Now Assam has a mountain to climb in order to save the match.
SCORECARD
Bengal 1st innings: AR Easwaran b K Das 8, SS Mondal lbw b Amit Verma 87, SD Chatterjee lbw b Sharma 65, MK Tiwary c Amit Verma b K Das 12, SP Goswami not out 112, LR Shukla c Wasiqur Rahman b Sharma 21, PP Shaw lbw b Syed Mohammad 99, AA Gani not out 33. Extras: (lb 7) 7; Total (6 wickets dec; 158 overs) 444; Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-148, 3-176, 4-176, 5-216, 6-390; Bowling: K Das 42-16-94-2, AK Das 23-5-56-0, G Sharma 24-9-39-2, J Syed Mohammad 27-3-107-1, PP Das 5-2-10-0, Amit Verma 30-2-103-1, AS Sinha 7-0-28-0.
Assam 1st innings: PP Das c Easwaran b Dinda 0, RG Hazarika lbw b Dinda 1, G Sharma c Goswami b Dinda 0, Amit Verma not out 0, AK Das b Dinda 0, KB Arun Karthik not out 0. Extras: 0; Total (4 wickets; 4 overs) 1; Fall of wickets 1-0, 2-0, 3-1, 4-1; Bowling: AB Dinda 2-2-0-4, AA Gani 2-1-1-0.
