Published: Feb 03, 2016, 07:41 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 31, 2016, 10:06 AM (IST)
Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live coverage of Day 1 of the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy quarter-final between Assam and Punjab, live from Valsad. Going into the tournament, the two sides are evenly matched. Though Assam finished third in Group A and Punjab second in Group B, they both had 26 points, though Punjab had a significantly better net run rate. It has not even been two months since Punjab and Assam had clashed in the Vijay Hazare Trophy: on that occasion Punjab had scored 327 for 4, and despite a spirited chase, Assam had fallen short by a solitary run.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Assam 221/8 in Overs 86 | Batting: Syed Mohammed 48(132), Arup Das 0 (4): STUMPS!! Amit Sinha after surviving 59 balls gave away his wicket to Siddharth Kaul. Kaul in the process picked up his fourth wicket. Sinha batted well in his 13 runs innings. Syed Mohammed has batted well in his innings of 50 runs from 134 balls. Assam after early collapse have managed to get past 220 runs.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Assam 181/6 in Overs 65.1 | Batting: Syed Mohammed 29(89), Amit Sinha 0(0) : OUT!! Amit Verma long stay at the crease ends as Siddharth Kaul picks his third wicket. Verma who looked solid in his innings of 42 runs was caught in the straight on the pads. Verma was well supported by Syed Mohammed. Mohammed has so far batting well in his innings of 29 runs is now joined by Amit Sinha.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Assam 150/5 in Overs 55 | Batting: Amit Verma 27(77), Syed Mohammed 17(53) :Amit Verma and Syed Mohammed have looked in good nick managing to the keep any more wickets from failing. Both Verma and Syed have added 35 run so far. Assam will be looking for the pair to get their team across 200 runs. Punjab bowlers have looked uninspired so far in this session.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Assam 120/5 in Overs 39.2 | Batting: Amit Verma 11(36), Syed Mohammed : OUT!! Assam are half a team down and looking in trouble after Siddharth Kaul picks his second wicket as Tarjinder Singh gets lbw. Tarjinder played a mini bash innings of 13 runs from 16 balls hitting three boundaries. Siddharth Kaul has so far in his 15 overs picked up 2 wickets for 52 runs. Amit Verma is looking to slow down Punjab’s momentum by denying them easy wicket on side of the pitch
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Assam 94/4 in Overs 29.2 | Batting: Amit Verma 11(26), Tarjinder Singh 0(0): OUT!! Bowled Barinder Singh Sran picks up the danger man K B Arun Karthick for 5 runs. Sran was taken to the floor in the first session, has finally managed to get a wicket giving away 37 runs in the process.Before the lunch break Assam had a horrible time losing as many as two wickets in quick successions.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Assam 85/3 in Overs 29.2 | Batting: Amit Verma 0(0), K B Arun Karthick() : Assam looking in trouble, after losing wickets of well set batsmen in two continuous overs. Pallav Kumar Das was the first to go for 46 runs attempting to hit Harbhajan Singh, Das had played well up until now. Second to go was Gokul Sharma who was dismissed by Siddharth Kaul for 20 runs in 38 balls. Kaul had been bowling well to the batsmen troubling them with line and length.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Assam 57/1 in Overs 20 | Batting: Pallav Kumar Das 32(65), Gokul Sharma 7(11) : Assam having a good start to their innings, have lost out on the wicket of Rahul Hazarika to a ball by Deepak Bansal. Bansal has looked good bowling line and length bowling. Hazarika did look solid in his innings of 12 slow runs. Pallav Kumar Das is looking good to get another fifty currently on 32*
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Assam 40/0 in Overs 15 | Batting: Pallav Kumar Das 26(65), Rahul Hazarika 8(29) : Pallav Kumar Das and Rahul Hazarika have managed to get Assam to the 15th over without any worries. Das and Hazarika have also managed to bring their partnership to 34 runs which includes 6 extras. Punjab bowlers have toiled hard to pick any wicket, the early moisture and help from the pitch getting reduced, it will turn good for the batsmen. Barinder Sran has looked the most ineffective getting hit for 21 runs in his 6 overs so far.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Assam 23/0 in Overs 9 | Batting: Pallav Kumar Das 12(40), Rahul Hazarika 6(15) : Madhya Pradesh have managed to get to a decent enough start. Pallav Kumar Das and Rahul Hazarika have looked in control denying Punjab bowlers any wickets. Das has so far managed to hit 2 boundaries and Hazarika one .Siddharth Kaul bene the most economical bowler so far giving away only 2 runs with Deepak Bansal supporting him well.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE Assam 6/0 in Overs 3 | Batting: Pallav Kumar Das 4(), Rahul Hazarika0() : Punjab skipper Harbhajan Singh after elected to bowl first. Already their have been two maiden overs bowled in the innings so far. Pallav Kumar Das has managed to hit a single ball towards the fence midst all the line and length bowling. did manage to hit two cracking shots towards the boundary. Punjab are boasted by the presence of Harbhajan Singh, Barinder Sran and Gurkeerat Mann fresh from the Australian tour, will be great addition .
Playing XI:
Assam : Gokul Sharma (C), Amit Sinha, K B Arun Karthick (WK), Amit Verma, Arup Das , Krishna Das, Pallav Kumar Das, Syed Mohammed, Tarjinder Singh, Rahul Hazarika, Dhiraj Goswam
Punjab: Harbhajan Singh (C), Jiwanjot Singh, Mandeep Singh, Gurkeerat Mann, Deepak Bansal, Gitansh Khera (W), Pargat Singh, Siddharth Kaul, Uday Kaul, Barinder Singh Sran, Mayank Siddana
Unfortunately for Punjab, captain Harbhajan Singh and vice-captain Yuvraj Singh are both on national duty. In Harbhajan and Yuvraj Punjab will lose their two most senior members and star performers. A lot will depend on Gurkeerat Singh Mann (251 runs at 83.67, 11 wickets at 13.81). He will be aided by Barinder Sran, who, like Gurkeerat, is also fresh from the tour of Australia. Sarabjit Ladda will have to provide the breaks the way he has been doing, and Siddarth Kaul will be expected to play the tireless workhorse. The batting looks inexperienced in the absence of Yuvraj, with Siddarth’s brother Uday being the only consistent performer, while wicketkeeper Gitansh Khera has contributed regularly.
Krishna Das (44 wickets at 13.47, 5 five-fors, 2 ten-fors) has been one of the best bowlers in this tournament. If the new ball does a bit, Krishna can be more than a handful. He does not give away runs either, which will make him one to look out for. Arup Das and Amit Verma have proved good as well, and Syed Mohammad has shown that he can win a match on his own. The batting, unfortunately, seems weak: though Arun Karthik has 723 runs at 55.61 with 3 hundreds, no other member of the side averages over 25.
Squads:
Assam: Gokul Sharma (c), Kunal Saikia (wk), Abu Nechim Ahmed, Krishna Das, Arun Karthik, Syed Mohammad, Amit Verma, Bikash Chetri, Arup Das, Swarupam Purkayastha, Pallavkumar Das, Sibsankar Roy, Pritam Das, Rishav Das, Tarjinder Singh.
Punjab: Gitansh Khera (wk), Uday Kaul (wk), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Barinder Sran, Mandeep Singh, Jiwanjot Singh, Siddarth Kaul, Sarabjit Ladda, Deepak Bansal, Varun Khanna, Manan Vohra, Maninder Singh, Mayank Sidhana, Pargat Singh.
