Guwahati, Dec. 27: A poor show by the batsmen saw Assam collapse to 151 in 76 overs on Day One of their last East Zone match against hosts Bengal in the Vijay Merchant Trophy (under-16) tournament at the CAB Cricket Academy ground at Kalyani today.
Opener Abhishek Thakuri steadied the innings but missed his half-century by three runs while skipper Angshuman Saikia struck a steady 26. Rio Pramanik provided some resistance only to lose his wicket at 17. The highlight of the match was Bengal left-arm off-spinner T.I Pramanik’s five for 47. Medium pacer A. Chakraborty took two for 25.
“We have to put up a better show tomorrow,” said Assam team manager Bablu Choudhury.
India-Palestine friendly: India will host Palestine in a friendly international football match at Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium here on February 6. Assam Football Association secretary Ankur Dutta said, “The All-India Football Federation confirmed the allotment last evening.”
“An AIFF team will visit the stadium in the first week of January and the allotment will be confirmed only on the basis of its report,” he added.
The match assumes significance because the points earned on the basis of its result is taken into consideration for Fifa ranking. While Palestine are ranked 152nd, India are placed 166th in the current Fifa rankings.
CB Trophy squad: Assam Cricket Association named a 15-member squad for the under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy match against Odisha in Cuttack from Saturday.
The squad: Wasiqur Rahman (captain, WK), Sunzow Brahma (vice-captain), Sajjid Khan, Kaushik Giri, Amlanjyoti Baruah, Siddhartha Sankar Baruah, Mrinmoy Dutta, Raunak Bucca, Sandip Paul Mazumdar, Prem Pradhan, Roshan Alam, Hrishikesh Tamuly, Mantu Das, Rohit Sarma and Bikash Ranjan Das. Standbys: Biku Borgohain, Sohail Rahman and Arpan Dutta. Coach: Gautam Dutta. Physio: Kaustab Bharadwaj. Trainer: Tauhid Ali Talukdar.
National cycling: Assam’s Anu Chutia bagged a bronze in the 2km team pursuit (under-14 category) of the 65th national track cycling championship at Indira Gandhi velodrome in New Delhi today.
Cricket trial: A trial-cum-selection camp will be held at Nehru Stadium from tomorrow to select the Guwahati Sports Association (under-19) district team for participation in the All-Assam J.K. Baruah inter-district cricket tournament organised by the Assam Cricket Association.
