Assam recovered from early blows to post 209 for seven in their first innings against Karnataka on the opening day of their final league engagement in the Ranji Trophy Elite group 'B' match in Bangalore on Thursday.

Sent into bat, the vistors were tottering on 92 for four at one stage but the middle order thwarted the Karnataka bowlers.

Parag Das (45) and S Vasant Saravanan (31) steadied the rollicking Assam boat before wicket-keeper batsman Zakaria Zuffri (43) and R Satish (37) lend some respectability to the score.

Speedster N C Aiyappa and spinners - Sunil Joshi and Udit Patel - shared two wickets each while Dodda Ganesh took one.

The start of the match was delayed till 12.50 pm due to the wet outfield following overnight rains.

Assam 1st innings
Sajjad Hussain b Aiyappa 11
Parag Das b Ganesh 45
Kiran Pawar b Aiyappa 0
S Vasant Saravanan c Aiyappa b Patel 31
Zakaria Zuffri lbw b Joshi 43
R Satish c V S Thilak Naidu b Patel 37
Soumik Das lbw b Joshi 16
Mrigen Talukdar batting 10
Gautam Dutta batting 11
Extras (lb4, nb1) 5
Total (for 7 wkts in 65 overs) 209

Fall of Wickets: 1-29, 2-29, 3-86, 4-92, 5-138, 6-182, 7-193.

Bowling: Ganesh 18-3-42-1; Aiyappa 16-4-72-2; Stuart Binny 4-0-16-0; Joshi 14-6-38-2; Patel 13-1-37-2.