Gautam Dutta (top), who took seven for 30, and RK Mritunjoy Gohain (below) raises his bat after scoring a century for Guwahati during the senior inter-district quarterfinal match at Nehru Stadium on Friday. Pictures by S.H. Patgiri

Guwahati, Jan. 28: Last year?s runners-up Guwahati today rode a patient century by opener R.K. Mritunjoy Gohain to take a comfortable first innings lead on Day One of the two-day quarterfinal match against Barpeta in the Nuruddin Ahmed Trophy senior inter-district cricket championship in the Nehru Stadium here.

Guwahati were 264 for two at stumps, replying to Barpeta?s first innings total of 66.

The out-of-favour state Ranji Trophy opener was batting on 120, while Nishanta Bordoloi, who is playing in the first major tournament after a yearlong injury lay-off, was on 72.

Gohain survived an early run-out scare with fellow opener Sazzad Hussain, but, that hiccup apart, he rallied well with Bordoloi during his 175-ball essay. Bordoloi missed the recent Ranji season to a shoulder injury.

The subsequent delivery after the run-out bungle saw Kishore Das of Barpeta trapping Hussain short of crease. Hussain made 54 off 66 balls with nine boundaries.

First-down Vishal Jain failed to give much company to Gohain as he was bowled by Arup Kumar for 11.

During the Barpeta innings, seasoned left-arm seamer Gautam Dutta hauled seven wickets to skittle out the visitors in 27.2 overs. Dutta returned impressive figures of 10 overs, two maidens and seven wickets for 30 runs.

Spinner Bitop Mahanta, a last-minute entrant into the team, claimed two tailenders conceding six runs off his 6.2 overs. Rajib Rajbanshi removed opener Keshajit Baruah for 10.

For Barpeta, middle-order batsman Manoj Bayan (22) topscored, while the rest of the batsmen failed to reach the double-figure mark.