Ranji Trophy: Satish and Ramaswamy make Assam toil

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ganesh Satish middled everything. Be it when he charged down the track to go over extra cover or when firmly pushing back to mid-off. The Assam bowlers had no way past him on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Group B match at St Xavier's ground, Thumba on Thursday. Satish's unbeaten knock of 93 put Vidarbha in a position of strength as they closed the day at 254 for three.
Young opener Sanjay Ramaswamy (83) complemented Satish well on a day when all Assam bowlers, except off-spinner Sarupam Purkayastha, who accounted for all three wickets, toiled hard without much help from a placid surface.
Winning the toss, Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal decided to bat and the early apprehensions about the unexplored track in the new venue soon subsided. Fazal and Ramaswamy looked at ease against the military medium pace of Arup Das and Krishna Das. Fazal carried on his good form from the last match, in which he scored 99, and hit some crisp boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking in the first hour of play. But just six short of another half-century, he misjudged quicker one from Sarupam and was caught in front of the stumps.
The period between Fazal's wicket and the lunch break saw the most action in an otherwise pedestrian day of cricket. Satish, coming in at No.3, announced his intentions clear with positive footwork against the spin duo of Sarupam and Syed Mohammed. Vidarbha went into the hut at lunch break on 108 for 1 with Satish racing to 26 in quick time. "I thought when I went into bat, the ball was coming much better into the bat and moreover the field was in. So I decided to play a bit aggressively," said Satish about his charge in the morning session.
In the second session, Assam captain Gokul Sharma set in-out fields and the seamers were asked to bowl at stumps not giving much away. Both Satish and Ramaswamy were willing to take their time as runs came in a trickle. Just at the stroke of tea, though, Ramaswamy tried a cute paddle off Sarupam and the resultant edge was nicely held by Sharma at slips. Sarupam again struck in the same over, just after resuming from the tea break, to remove Aditya Shanware for a blob. However, Satish and Ravi Jangid (31 batting) shut out the small opening Assam had got by playing out the remainder of the day without taking any undue risks.
Brief scores: Vidarbha 254/3 (Ganesh Satish 93 batting, Sanjay Ramaswamy 83, Faiz Fazal 44; Sarupam P 3-86) vs Assam