Ranji Trophy: Assam's Syed Mohammad rattles holders Karnataka

Guwahati: Veteran left-arm spinner Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad registered his best first-class bowling figures to single-handedly give Assam an upperhand against defending champions Karnataka on the opening day of their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match here today.

Syed Mohammad spun the web around Karnataka batsmen to register his best bowling figures of seven for 44 and bundle out the title holders for a paltry 187 in 75.2 overs at Barsapara Cricket Stadium here after the visitors opted to bat.

At stumps, Assam were 21 for one and still trail Karnataka by 166 runs.

Pallav Kumar Das was batting on 15 in the company of skipper Gokul Sharma (2 not out). Swarupam Purkayastha was the lone Assam batsman to fall, bowled by Karnataka skipper R Vinay Kumar.

Earlier, Karnataka's decision to bat first after winning the toss backfired as Assam picked up wickets at regular intervals with Syed Mohammad turning out to be the wrecker-in-chief.

Syed Mohammad accounted for the wickets of in-form Mayank Agarwal (36), Robin Uthappa (11), CM Gautam, Karun Nair (14), Shreyas Gopal (9), Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun during his magical day.

Shishir Bhavane (65) was the only Karnataka batsman to put up a fight against the Assam tweakers. He scored his runs off 143 balls with the help of six boundaries.

Leg-break bowler Amit Verma (2/16) also chipped in with two wickets against his former Ranji teammates, while pacer Krishna Das (1/22) accounted for the other.

Brief Scores:

Karnataka 1st innings: 187 all out in 75.2 (Shishir Bhavane 65; Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad 7/44).