Guwahati, Oct. 11: All-rounder Souvik Das will lead a 14-member Assam under-19 team for the Cooch Behar Trophy. The east zone leg of the meet will be held in Cuttack from October 27.
Assam, which lost to Andhra Pradesh in Hyderabad in the knockout stage last year, will open their campaign against Tripura (October 27-29).
This will be followed by matches against the hosts (November 1-3), Bengal (November 6-8), Bihar (November 11-13) and Sikkim (November 16-18). The team will leave for Cuttack on October 17.
Besides Das, the team list released this evening by convenor of selection committee and Assam Cricket Association joint secretary Bikash Baruah includes four other Ranji probables — Khanin Saikia, Dhiraj Goswami, Dinesh Mahanta and Nandulal Mahato. ACA secretary Nandan Bezbaruah is on leave.
Das succeeds former India under-15 pacer Mrigen Talukdar, one among the 36 Ranji probables this year.
The selection committee — comprising former state players Pankaj Srutikar, Moloy Das and H. Sengupta — also named five standbyes as “cover for the Ranji probables, injuries and dropouts”.
Notable omission from the team is Sabir Laskar, one of last year’s main junior wicket-takers for Assam. “The performance of the under-19 team will be closely monitored as they are products of the Assam Cricket Academy. One will get a fair idea about the progress made by the ACA and its trainees from the results,” a senior association source said.
Of the two promising prospects from Shillong — Alvin Bamon and Jason Lamare — only the latter figure in the list.
The assam team
Souvik Das (captain), Abinash Kalita (wicketkeeper), Vishal Jain, Khanin Saikia, Chandan Rawat, Dinesh Mahanta (Guwahati), Pervez Aziz, Nandulal Mahato, Dimbeswar Boro (railway), Jason Lamare (Shillong), Rajkapur Yadav (Tezpur), Shyam Baruah, Dhiraj Goswami (Nagaon) and Subra Deb (Karimganj).
Standby: Kunal Roy, Shivaprasad Barman (railway), Sushanta Mitra (Goalpara), Ankur Chakravorthy (Dibrugarh) and Bhaskarjyoto Barman (Guwahati)
Coach: Manoj Bhagawati (Sivasagar)
Manager: Safiqul Hussain (Goalpara)
Tezpur, Oct. 11: Assam Police Blues have won the Bishnu Jyoti Football Tournament by defeating the Assam Rifles soccer team 2-0 in the final in Panchmail mini stadium near Tezpur today, reports our correspondent.
Striker Debojit Rabha, receiving a left-wing pass, headed in the first goal in the 15th minute while mid-fielder Sanjay Goyari scored the second goal after receiving a pass from striker Devajit Rabha in the 57th minute.
Rabha of Assam Police Blues was adjudged as the best player. Assam flood control minister Noor Jamal Sarkar distributed the prizes. Altogether 13 teams participated in the meet.
Five players of Assam Rifles soccer team (Akon Aao, Jagdish Singh (GK), Gokul Chettri, Noapa Singh and T. Amlang have been sent for the selection trial of the Santosh Trophy football tournament to begin in Imphal on October 17.
