Denish leads Assam’s fightback towards Tamil Nadu

Busy day: Mohamed Ali scored an unbeaten 49 and dismissed Assam’s Subham Mandal. | Photograph: RITU RAJ KONWAR

Skipper Denish Das hit an unbeaten half-century as he led Assam’s sturdy riposte to Tamil Nadu’s first innings whole, the host ending the second day at 176 for 3 in a Ranji Trophy Elite Group-D match on the Barsapara Cricket Stadium right here on Thursday.

Earlier, resuming on the in a single day 299 for seven, the visiting group added 39 runs with S. Mohamed Ali (49 not out) and R. Sonu Yadav (29) stretching their partnership to 63 runs. Left-arm medium-pacer Mrinmoy Dutta ended the stand, having Sonu caught by Sibsankar Roy.

The innings then ended swiftly, as Gurjapneet Singh and 16-year-old debutant R.D. Pranav Ragavendra failed to bother the scorers, falling to Mukhtar Hussain and Mrinmoy, respectively.

The 5 bowlers utilized by the house facet completed with two wickets apiece as Tamil Nadu was dismissed for 338.

Openers Parvej Musaraf (18) and Rishav Das (54) started effectively for Assam and added 49 earlier than Sonu broke via by trapping the previous leg-before. Rishav, who was looking out for runs and made full use of the unfastened deliveries, was joined by Subham Mandal and the duo placed on 40 runs for the second wicket.

Mandal was despatched again by Mohamed Ali when he edged a supply to wicketkeeper N. Jagadeesan.

Rishav fell to left-arm pacer Gurjapneet for a well-compiled 54 (89b, 7×4) because the host discovered itself in a spot of trouble at 105 for 3.

Denish, nonetheless, put paid to Tamil Nadu’s hopes of any additional wickets as he compiled a affected person unbeaten 54 (116b, 7×4) and solid an unbroken 71-run stand with southpaw Sibsankar Roy (23 batting).

It was a battle of attrition as Denish and Sibsankar defied the opposition bowlers until the shut of play. Tamil Nadu bowlers’ greatest efforts to get a breakthrough had been in useless.

The scores:

Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: S. Lokeshwar c Subham b Rajbangshi 8, N. Jagadeesan c Ghadigaonkar b Mukhtar 5, Vijay Shankar b Purkayastha 76, Pradosh Ranjan Paul lbw b Rajbangshi 27, C. Andre Siddarth lbw b Purkayastha 94, M. Shahrukh Khan c Denish b Rahul 28, S. Mohamed Ali (not out) 49, R. Sai Kishore c Ghadigaonkar b Rahul 3, R. Sonu Yadav c Sibsankar b Mrinmoy 29. Gurjapneet Singh lbw b Mukhtar 0, R.D. Pranav Ragavendra b Mrinmoy 0; Extras (b-9, lb-5, nb-5): 19; Whole (in 98.4 overs): 338.

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-13, 3-79, 4-177, 5-237, 6-266, 7-271, 8-334, 9-337.

Assam bowling: Mukhtar 20-2-64-2, Rajbangshi 19-4-80-2, Mrinmoy 25.4-4-91-2, Rahul 22-5-56-2, Purkayastha 12-2-33-2.

Assam — 1st innings: Parvej Musaraf lbw b Sonu 18, Rishav Das c Andre b Gurjapneet 54, Subham Mandal c Jagadeesan b Mohamed Ali 16, Denish Das (batting) 54, Sibsankar Roy (batting) 23; Extras (b-4, lb-2, w-2, nb-3): 11; Whole (for 3 wkts. in 68 overs): 176.

Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-89, 3-105.

Tamil Nadu bowling: Gurjapneet 13-6-32-1, Pranav 11-0-38-0, Sonu 12-2-27-1, Sai Kishore 8.5-1-18-0, Pradosh 1.1-0-5-0, Mohamed Ali 11-3-22-1, Vijay Shankar 8-4-17-0, Shahrukh 3-0-11-0.