Fresh from their back-to-back winsover Tripura and Jharkhand, Assam start as favourites when they take on Keralain their Ranji Trophy Group C league match starting here tomorrow.
Assam have collected 13 points, including a bonus, from theirtwo matches, while Kerala have just one point from the lone drawn match againstHimachal Pradesh.
Kerala, with a strong batting line-up, fumbled against Himachal,but middle order batsman Rohan Prem rescued them by scoring a patient unbeaten104 and denied an outright win.
In-form wicketkeeper batsman Sanju Viswanath Samson was instrumentalin Kerala's first innings total of 229. Samson notched up a brilliant unbeaten127, while the other Kerala batsmen failed to come up with a decent score.
Besides Rohan Prem and Samson, the hosts will also bank onveteran opener Jagadish for a sizeable total while bowling will be spearheadedby captain and medium pacer Sony Cheruvathoor and spinners S Anish, Prashanthamd K R Sreejith.
Assam, who are in splendid form, would rely on their captainDheeraj Jadav, who had scored the first Ranji Trophy double century of thisseason. Jadav slammed 243 against Tirpura.
Syed Mohammed had shone both with both the bat and ball againstJharkhand in shaping his team's victory. The bowling department will be in thehands of Syed Mohammed and Arlen Konwar.