CUTTACK, OCT 15: As many as 15 wickets fell on the opening day as Group-A table toppers Assam fought back to reduce host Odisha to 52 for five after being skittled out for 92 in their third-round Ranji Trophy match at Barabati Stadium here today.
Put into bat, Assam were bundled out for 92 in 52.4 overs as the five-pronged pace attack of Odisha wreaked havoc, taking wickets in regular intervals. Basant Mohanty justified his reputation as the spearhead of the Odisha attack, bagging five wickets for 24 runs. He was well supported by teammates Suryakant Pradhan and Alok Sahoo, who picked up a brace each.
But the joy in the Odisha camp was short-lived as the hosts too suffered a batting collapse. Barring opener Natraj Behera, who hit an 18-ball 23 with the help of five boundaries, no other Odisha batsman could reach double digit.
Assam’s Krishna Das destroyed the top order of Odisha batting line-up, scalping four wickets for five runs.
Anurag Sarangi and Abhilash Mallick were batting on seven and four respectively at draw of stumps.
SCOREBOARD:
ASSAM (1st innings): Pallav Das c Poddar b Sahoo 14, Kunal Saikia b Pradhan 4, Gokul Sharma c Sarangi b Mohanty 0, Amit Verma c Sahoo b Mangaraj 20, K Arun Karthick b Mohanty 3, Tarjinder Singh b Mohanty 17, Syed Mohammed b Mohanty 14, Sarupam Purkayastha c (Sub) b Sahoo 0, Pritam Das c Sarangi b Pradhan 1, Arup Das b Mohanty 8, Krishna Das (not out) 6; Extras (nb 4, lb 1) 5
Total (All out; 52.4 overs) 92
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-5, 3-27, 4-36, 5-54, 6-74, 7-75, 8-78, 9-78, 10-92
Bowling: Basant Mohanty 14.4-6-24-5, Suryakant Pradhan 10-1-33-2, Alok Sahoo 12-6-18-2, Alok Mangaraj 7-2-13-1, Biplab Samantaray 9-7-3-0
ODISHA (1st innings): Natraj Behera c Saikia b K Das 23, Rajesh Dhuper c T Singh b K Das 0, Govinda Poddar b K Das 0, Anurag Sarangi (batting) 7, Pratik Das c Saikia b K Das 8, Biplab Samantaray c Saikia b A Das 5, Abhilash Mallick (batting) 4; Extras (b 4, nb 1) 5
Total (5 wkts; 32 overs) 52
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-22, 3-23, 4-31, 5-44
Bowling: Arup Das 10-5-33-1, Krishna Das 11-8-5-4, Pallavkumar Das 5-3-3-0, Pritam Das 6-2-7-0
