Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Basant Mohanty’s 5-wicket haul bundles Assam for 92 against Odisha

Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Basant Mohanty's 5-wicket haul bundles Assam for 92 against Odisha

Cuttack: Odisha pace spearhead Basant Mohanty bagged five-wicket haul to help skittle out Assam for 92, but the hosts were also in trouble after losing five wickets on the opening day of the Group A Ranji Trophy cricket encounter on Wednesday. Put into bat on what seems perfect bowling track at the Barabati Stadium, Mohanty wrecked havoc in the visiting camp, but soon the hosts found themselves in trouble at 52 for five at stumps. The Biplab Samantray-led side still trail by 40 runs. Assam medium-pacer Krishna Das also came up with a befitting reply by bagging four wickets so far and the hosts’ top-order were left clueless. UPDATES: Odisha vs Assam, Ranji Trophy 2015-16, Group A match, Day 1 at Cuttack: Stumps

Anurag Sarangi (7 not out) and Abhilash Mallick (4 not out) are still fighting on as opener Natraj Behera (23) remains the top-scorer till now. Earlier put into bat, the Gokul Sharma-led Assam saw two ducks in their innings as Amit Verma top-scored with 20. Mohanty’s fifer was also backed up by Suryakant Pradhan and Alok Chandra Sahoo, who bagged two wickets apiece.

Assam, the surprise package of the tournament so far, sit smugly at the top of Group A with 10 points from 2 matches. Not only have they thrashed Rajasthan by a comprehensive margin of innings and 152 runs, they had also secured a crucial first-innings lead against defending champions Karnataka. Odisha, on the other hand, are on a mere 2 from 2 matches after conceding considerable first-innings leads to both Vidarbha at Nagpur and Maharashtra at Cuttack.

Brief Scores:

Assam 92 (Amit Verma 20, Tarjinder Singh 17; Basant Mohanty 5 for 24, Suryakant Pradhan 2 for 33, Alok Chandra Sahoo 2 for 18) lead Odisha 52 for 5 (Natraj Behera 23; Krishna Das 4-5, Arup Das 1-33) by 40 runs.