Sunny Gupta: Holding fort

Jamshedpur, Oct. 26: Middle-order batsman Birendra Choudhary and skipper Shahbaz Nadeem helped Jharkhand overcome early setbacks against Assam on the opening day of under-22 league tie for the Colonel C.K. Nayudu Trophy at Keenan Stadium today.

At the draw of stumps, Jharkhand was 219 for seven with spinners Sunny Gupta on 10 and giving him company was Sujit Roy on 1.

The two held the innings together after the top-order succumbed to bowling by the Assam on a batting track.

Debutante Choudhary (67 off 183 balls) and Nadeem (41 of 71 balls) stitched a handy 92-run partnership for the sixth wicket, somewhat wresting advantage from the visitors.

But for the determined efforts of Choudhary and Nadeem, the first innings would have folded up today itself.

Jharkhand failed to take advantage of the batting track after Nadeem won the toss and elected to bat. Right-handed Choudhary played with a lot of caution and did not hesitate to punish the lose deliveries.