Ranji Trophy: Assam makes strong reply through 50s from Denish, Rishav

CHENNAI: Half centuries from Rishav Das and Denish Das helped Assam post 176 for three against Tamil Nadu on day two of Group D Ranji Trophy clash at the Baraspara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Thursday.

Resuming the day at 299/7, the eighth-wicket pair of Sonu Yadav (29) and Mohamed Ali (49 not out) stitched together a partnership worth 63 runs to help Tamil Nadu post 338 runs in its first innings.

All five Assam bowlers who bowled took two wickets each to bowl out the visiting team before lunch.

With the bat, Assam had a decent start as opener Rishav (54) notched his first fifty of the season before pacer Gurjapneet Singh got the much-needed breakthrough for Tamil Nadu.

TN bowlers Sonu Yadav and Mohamed Ali took one wicket each in the next few overs to spread cheer among their side.

But Assam skipper Denish took charge and scored an unbeaten 54 (116b, 7x4) and along with Sibsankar Roy who was batting on 23 (96b, 3x4) kept the scoreboard ticking with an unbroken 71 runs for the fourth wicket.

Except for batters Andre Siddarth, S Lokeshwar and wicket-keeper N Jagadeesan, every other player from the visiting team had bowled at least one over in an attempt to break the partnership.

At stumps, Assam was 176 for three, trailing by 162 runs with two days remaining.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 338 in 98.4 overs (C Andre Siddarth 94, Vijay Shankar 76, M Ali 49*) vs Assam 176/3 in 68 overs (D Das 54 batting, R Das 54)