Konwar’s fiver restricts UP to 213

Off-spinner Arlen Konwar tantalises batsmen with his flight and isn’t afraid of allowing them to free their arms.

Off-spinner Arlen Konwar tantalises batsmen with his flight and isn’t afraid of allowing them to free their arms.

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Konwar played a key role in Assam’s entry into the Elite Group and once again it was he who made the difference against Uttar Pradesh on Thursday as he reaped a five-wicket haul to bowl Uttar Pradesh out for just 213 in their first innings.

UP’s bowlers struck back with Praveen Gupta shattering opener Amit Sinha’s middle-stump off in the eighth over to peg the hosts back on the opening day. When bad light stopped play, Assam were 17 for one with Parvez Aziz and Amol Muzumdar at the crease.

But the day belonged to Konwar, who struck with his first delivery, before lunch, when he forced opener Tanmay Srivastava to give a regulation catch to Tarjinder Singh at slips. The offie then never looked back and struck crucial blows at regular intervals.

Despite being hammered for two consecutive boundaries by Mohammad Kaif and Parvinder Singh, Konwar kept mesmerising the batsmen with his slow but accurate turners and snapped two crucial wickets for seven runs.

After having Shivakant Shukla caught at the midwicket, Konwar forced Parvinder Singh to offer a bat-pad catch to Parvez Aziz before inviting Piyush Chawla to give a simple catch to Muzumdar at short mid-off.

It was difficult to bat on the tricky pitch on a foggy morning with Assam seamers Abu Nachim Ahmed and Ranjeet Mali in no mood to give even an inch. But openers Tanmay Srivastava (26) and Shivakant Shukla (47) negotiated the low bounce and stitched together a 67-run partnership.

Skipper Kaif waged a lone battle with his cautious approach.

He punished loose deliveries on way to scoring his third 50 of the season. Kaif’s battle came to an end when he tried to play a shot over Sairaj Bahutule’s head and was caught by D. Goswami.