Delhi pacers dished out a disciplined bowling performance to leave Assam tottering at 132-6 on a rain-hit opening day of the Ranji Trophy Group B match at the Reliance Stadium here on Thursday.
After the morning session was washed out due to rain, Delhi bowlers came out with a determined and disciplined approach and made life difficult for the Assam batsmen.
RG Hazarika (37) and Tarjinder Singh (31 not out) were the major contributors for Assam even as Delhi bowlers Navdeep Saini (2/31), Manan Sharma (2/34) and Varun Sood (2/29) tormented the batsmen with their line and length.
At the draw of stumps, Tarjinder and S Purkayastha (8) were at the crease.
Electing to bowl first, Delhi made good use of the possible playing time as only 62 overs could be bowled on the opening day due to rain.
Pallavkumar Das (15) and Rahul Hazarika (37) batted for 13.5 overs scoring 29 runs when the former was dismissed by Manan. Gokul Sharma (9) and Hazarika helped Assam cross the 50-mark before the skipper was cleaned up by Sood in the 35th over.
Soon Hazarika and Amit Verma (2) were removed in quick succession by Saini as Assam slipped to 65-4 in 39.4 overs.
Sood came back to dismiss KB Arun Karthik (9) and then Manan got rid of J Syed Mohammad (13) as Assam were looking down the barrel at 113-6 in 55.1 overs.
Mumbai in control
Medium pacers Dhawal Kulkarni and Tushar Deshpande wrecked havoc by grabbing four wickets apiece as Mumbai put themselves in the drivers seat by dismissing Tamil Nadu for a paltry 87 on the opening day in their Ranji Trophy Group A match here on Thursday.
Mumbai skipper Aditya Tare's decision to insert opposition in proved right as Kulkarni and Deshpande ripped through the Tamil Nadu batting line-up at the Bansi lal Cricket Stadium here.
Only three Tamil Nadu batsmen could reach to double digit scores with Baba Indrajith being the highest scorer with 28 not out.
Kulkarni, who scalped Tamil Nadu's top three batsmen, returned with figures of four for 31 while Deshpande gave away 25 runs for his four wickets. Another medium pacer Balwinder Sandhu got two wickets for 14 runs to rout Tamil Nadu who were dismissed in 45.3 overs.
In reply, Mumbai also struggled but not to the extent Tamil Nadu had done. Mumbai were 85 for 4 in 32 overs at stumps to trail by 2 runs with six first innings wickets still in hand. One-drop Kaustubh Pawar was batting on 28, in company with captain Tare (22 batting). Jay Bista (7) was the first Mumbai batsman to fall at the team score of 22 before his opening partner Akhil Herwadkar (17) followed him at 45 for 2. Soon, Mumbai slumped to 45 for 3 and then 53 for 4 before Pawar and Tare shared 32 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket stand.
For Tamil Nadu, Krishnamoorthy Vignesh grabbed two wickets while Aswin Crist and J Kousik got one each.