GUWAHATI, Nov 13 - Kunal Saikia and skipper KB Arun Karthik guided Assam to 224 for the loss of five wickets at the end of the first day�s play against Odisha in their Group B Ranji Trophy match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad today.
Kunal Saikia and KB Arun Karthik put up a 131-run fifth wicket partnership to steer Assam to a respectable total after early blows struck the last year�s semifinalists. Assam were 93 for the loss of four wickets when Karthik joined Saikia in the middle. Karthik went on to score 62 off 124 deliveries before falling prey to a Basant Mohanty delivery while Saikia remained unbeaten with a fine knock of 88 off 217 balls. Giving Saikia company at stumps was Arup Das, who was yet to open his account.
Earlier, Karthik opted to bat after the coin landed in his team�s favour. Assam failed to get off to flying start with both the openers Rishav Das and Rahul Hazarika back into the pavilion with the scoreboard reading only seven runs. Amit Verma and Sibsankar Roy tried to steady the ship but the former was out for 22 with a total of 37 runs on board. Roy went on to play a steady innings of 37 runs off 142 deliveries before being run out.
Basant Mohanty and Suryakant Pradhan picked up two wickets apiece for Odisha.
Scorecard
Assam 1st Innings: Rishav Das c Govinda Poddar b Suryakant Pradhan 1, Rahul Hazarika b Suryakant Pradhan 0 , Sibsankar Roy run out Biplab Samantaray 37, Amit Verma c Saurabh Rawat b Basant Mohanty 22, Kunal Saikia not out 88, KB Arun Karthik lbw Basant Mohanty 62, Arup Das not out 0. Extras: (nb 3, w 3, b 4, lb 4, pen 0) 14. Total: (5 wickets; 90 overs) 224. Bowling: Basant Mohanty 15-9-8-2, Suryakant Pradhan 19-5- 55-2, Deepak Behera 15-3-37-0, Biplab Samantaray 11-1-37-0, Dhiraj Singh 14-3-46-0, Govinda Poddar C 16-3-33-0. Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-7, 3-37, 4-93, 5-224.
