Openers lead Assam's fightback after being asked to follow on by Odisha

Openers Kunal Saikia (62 batting) and Subham Mandal (40 batting) led Assam's fightback in the second innings with a century parntership after being forced to follow on by Odisha on the third day of a Ranji Trophy Group C match here on Wednesday. Assam was bowled out for 238 in reply to Odisha's first innings score of 436 with Ranjeet Mali (59) and opener Kunal Saikia (53) being the major contributors.

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Assam reduced to 147/7

Resuming at the overnight score of 59 for 3, the visitors slipped to 147 for 7, losing the wickets of Rishav Das (37) and talented Riyan Parag (43). Wicket-keeper Saikia and Mali, batting at No.9, launched a rearguard action and added 58 runs for the eighth wicket. After Saikia's exit, Mali added some important runs relying on some aggressive batting. Asked to follow-on, Assam was provided a solid start by Mandal and Kunal Saikia, who was promoted to open, as they added 102 runs in 31 overs.

The visiting team still needs 96 runs to make Odisha bat again.In Jammu, there was no play for the second straight day in the match between Jammu & Kashmir and Chhattisgarh. Also, the third day's play in Uttarkhand-Haryana fixture was abandoned.In Agartala, Maharashtra scored 103 for 2 in the second innings and needs 101 more runs to secure a victory against Tripura.

Brief scores (at end of third day): Odisha 436 all out in 136.3 overs (Debabrata Pradhan 79, Abhishek Raut 71, Shantanu Mishra 66, Anurag Sarangi 58, Govinda Poddar 58; Arup Das 4/101, Ranjeet Mali 4/113) vs Assam 238 all out in 82.2 overs (Ranjeet Mali 59, Kunal Saikia 53, Riyan Parag 43, Rishav Das 37; Debaratra Pradhan 4/37) and 102 for no loss in 31 overs (Kunal Saikia 62 batting, Subham Mandal 40 batting).

• At Jammu: Chhattisgarh 270 for 4 in 90 overs (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 116, Abhimanyu Chauhan 51) vs Jammu & Kashmir. (No play on third day).
• At Dehradun: Uttarkhand 109 all out in 42 overs (Tinu Kundu 3/49) vs Haryana 50 for 5 in 21 overs (Agrim Tiwari 4/10). (No play on third day).
• At Agartala: Tripura 121 all out in 38 overs (M B Murasingh 24; Manoj Ingale 6/34) and 290 all out in 90 overs (Pallab Das 77, Milind Kumar 67, Harmeet Singh 46, M B Mura Sinh 37; A Palkar 5/62, M G Choudhary 3/77) vs Maharashtra 208 all out in 64.2 overs (Vishant More 78 not out, Ankit Bawane 62, SM Gugale 34, VV More 30 batting; Mura Singh 3/246, AS Sarkar 3/59) and 103 for 2 in 29 overs (SM Gugale 55 batting).
• At Delhi: Services 279 all out in 83.1 overs (Raushan Raj 79, Mohit Ahlawat 69, Pulkit Narang 38, Rajat Paliwal 38; Rahul Shukla 7/106) and 259 for 8 declared in 73 overs (Rahul Singh Gahlaut 82, Devender Lohchab 43) vs Jharkhand 153 all out in 53 overs (Sumit Kumar 38, Md Nazim 28; Diwesh Pathania 4/51, Raushan Raj 3/40) and 49 for 1 in 14 overs (Kumar Suraj 27 batting).

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(Image Courtesy: PTI)