Wickets fell like a deck of cards as 16 batsmen perishing on the second day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final between Assam and Punbal, in Valsad, on Thursday.
Starting the day on 223 for eight, overnight batsman Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad (121) added 71 runs to his overnight score and hit the bulk of the runs to take Assam to a respectable score of 323.
He valiant knock was studded with 16 boundaries and two sixes.
Mohammad converted his overnight 50 into his second first-class hundred. He held the innings together for 21.3 overs with the last two batmen and in the process amassed a hundred.
Later, seamers Krishna Das (3-54) and Arup Das (3-41) shared six wickets between them to rout Punjab for 137.
Middle-order batsman Mayank Sidhana, who struck nearly 60 per cent of their first-innings total, remained unbeaten on 80 off 131 balls, including 10 fours, while eight of his team-mates perished in single digits.
In reply, Punjab were reduced to 13 for four in the fifth over as Arup and ran amok.
Mandeep Singh and Gurkeerat Singh got out for ducks, leaving Sidhana and Uday Kaul (25) to resurrect the innings.
The duo put on 73 runs together before part-timer Pallavkumar Das (2-9) broke through and the Punjab tail crumbled soon after.
In their second innings, Assam did not have the best of starts and were in a spot of bother at 23 for four by the end of the day.
Assam's batsmen extended their first innings lead of 186 to 209, but not before being tormented by left-arm seamer Barinder Sran who claimed three wickets for 11 runs.
Brief scores:
Assam 323 in 108 overs (J Syed Mohammed 121, Siddharth Kaul 4-99, Deepak Bansal 3-75) & 23-4 in 11 overs (Barinder Sran 3-11).
Punjab 137 in 47.2 overs (Mayank Sidhana 80 not out; Arup Das 3-41, Krishna Das 3-54).
