Spinners Gupta, Nadeem restrict Assam to 179

Jamshedpur: Jharkhand spinners Shahbaz Nadeem and Sunny Gupta spun a web around Assam batters to bundle out the hosts for 179 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match, here on Friday.

Gupta (4/56) and Nadeem (4/65) polished off the middle and lower order with only Hokaito Zhimomi (48, 182 balls, 4x4), Gokul Sharma (37, 137 balls, 7x4) and Tarjinder Singh (37, 76 balls, 3x4) making significant contribution for Assam. At stumps, Jharkhand were two for 0 with Manish Vardhan (2) and Rammez Nemat (0) at the crease. After being put in to bat at Keenan Stadium, Assam openers Pallavkumar Das (0) and skipper Dheeraj Jadhav (13) departed in quick succession. While Das was scalped by left-arm seamer Jaskiran Singh, Jadhav was caught by wicketkeeper Shiv Gautam off Gupta. Amit Sinha (1) was castled by pacer Shankar Rao as the hosts were left tottering at 26 for 3. Zhimoni and Sharma then steadied Assam`s sinking ship with a vital 75-run stand for the fourth wicket but both were sent back to the pavilion within a span of three runs. Nadeem picked up Sharma while Zhimoni became Gupta`s second victim. Gupta struck again to get rid off Syed Mohammad (12) as the hots were looking down the barrel at 135 for six in 69.5 overs. Gupta then went on to claim wicketkeeper Rajdeep Das (5) while Nadeem picked up Tarjinder, Abu Nechim (19) and Arlen Konwar (1) to wrap up the Assam innings. Brief scores: Assam 1st innings: 179 all out in 88.1 overs (Hokaito Zhimomi 48, Gokul Sharma 37, and Tarjinder Singh 37; Sunny Gupta 4/56 and Shahbaz Nadeem 4/65. Jharkhand 1st innings: 2 for 0 in 1 over (Manish Vardhan 2). PTI