Jamshedpur, Dec. 16: After a poor outing in the last match against Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand can ill-afford to squander opportunities when they take on Assam in a crucial Ranji Trophy Plate league tie, starting at Keenan Stadium tomorrow.

Since both Jharkhand and Assam have four points from three outings, the match holds significance.

The hosts made a meek surrender to Madhya Pradesh after calling the shots in the first three days.

The outright defeat in that match still haunts the Jharkhand team even though coach Randhir Singh came up with a brave front.

Jharkhand's batting fortunes will largely depend on how well skipper Rajeev Kumar, outstation recruits Vijay Raghvendra Rao Bhardwaj, Manoj Joglekar and the openers for the match Manish Vardhan and Ratan Kumar perform.

Left-arm spinner Shabaz Nadeem will have to share the load of the bowling department with the seamers S.S. Rao, Mihir Diwakar and Sanjeev Gupta.