Saikia brings about Orrisa collapse

Khanin Saikia, with a bag of six wickets for 30, helped Assam bowl out Orissa on the opening day of their Vijay Merchant Trophy (under-16) match at Guwahati on Saturday.

There was a brief moment of initial defiance with Priyadarshi Debashish (34) and Rakesh Mohanty (32) adding 53 runs for the second wicket. But Saikia dismissed Mohanty to break the stand and then worked havoc. Wickets fell at regular intervals in the middle order and then in a heap towards the end. The last six wickets fell for the addition of just three runs in seven overs as Orissa collapsed from 115 for four to 118 all out. This followed a 36 run stand for the fifth wicket between Priyadarshi Debashis and skipper SP Priyadarshan (21). Saikia finished with figures of 16-6-30-6.

When Assam batted, Rakesh Mohanty followed his valuable knock by taking two wickets in one over as Assam were 35 for two at stumps.