Guwahati, Nov. 29: The players from Punjab are mighty impressed with the healthy turnout at the Nehru Stadium here since day one of the Ranji Trophy match between the visiting side and hosts Assam.

“The turnout is pretty healthy compared to Delhi and Punjab even when players like Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Virendra Sehwag are in action. Hardly 50 people watch the first-class matches there. The stadium here may not be full, but it is encouraging,” remarked Punjab stand-in coach Sushil Kapoor.

Over 1,000 cricket lovers have turned out to watch the proceedings and the gallery below the pavilion has remained more or less packed since Wednesday.

It has also been one of the most vociferous of crowds. From autograph-hunting to sportingly applauding the action in the middle to booing at any misadventure or missed chance, it has been a typical cricket-loving crowd.

Of particular interest to the crowd has been out-of-favour India batsman and Punjab skipper Dinesh Mongia. Despite failing with the bat twice in the match, he remained a big draw at the stadium. So much so that even while applauding centurions Pankaj Dharmani and Ankur Kakkar, they were trying get a glimpse of Mongia, who had hit a brilliant hundred at this very ground against Zimbabwe early this year. “The turnout would have been much higher had Yuvraj and Sodhi been around,” an Assam Cricket Association official said.

Sledging warning

With the Assam-Punjab Ranji trophy league match going to the wire and on-field ties between the two teams “anything but cordial”, match referee B.J.J. Raju is not taking any chances.

Though Raju tried his best to play down the sledging going on since Wednesday, he admitted to having directed the two umpires — A.M. Saheba of Gujarat and Ravi Deshmukh of Vidarbha — to clamp down on conduct unbecoming of a cricketer.

“Since both teams will be going all out tomorrow, there will be some tension. Therefore, I have asked the umpires to be firm. Nothing much must be read into this. I have also told both the captains that they will be responsible for unruly behaviour in the middle,” Raju said.

The Assam team had, in fact, lodged an informal complaint about the Punjab team targeting opener Kiran Pawar for some special invectives on Wednesday. Yesterday, veteran Sukhwinder Singh had complained about Amit Uniyal’s verbal volleys. Singh himself gave vent to his feelings after dismissing Ravneet Ricky late in the day yesterday.

Defending the ongoing sledging, Punjab coach Sushil Kapoor said such banter was common in first-class cricket. “If the players can’t take this, then what will they do when they come across teams like Australia and South Africa? As far as ties between the two teams are concerned, it is very normal,” he said.