Ranji Plate Division Match

Nail-biting victory for Assam over Services:

Guwahati, Dec 4: Assam pulled off a sensational six-wicket victory over Services in their Ranji Plate Division Group A league encounter on the fourth and final day at Nehru Stadium here on Tuesday and kept their door open to move into the knock out stage.

Chasing a victory target of 306 runs in 79 overs, Asam reached the target with 2.2 overs to spare. The heroes of the day were the two outstation batsmen Sadagopan Ramesh and skipper Sridharan Sarath who scored 97 and an unbeaten 94 respectively.

Services, who resumed the day at 83 for one, declared their second innings at 158 for four after adding 75 runs in 10 overs on the final day morning. For Services, Tahir Khan cored 55 and he was well supported by Devendra Israni (44).

For the hosts, Bichitra Baruah bagged two wickets for 58 runs, while left arm spinner Arlen Konwar managed one.


With the 147-run first innings lead by the Services, that meant Assam were set a victory target of 306.

That the decision to declare by Services was a mistake would have become clear from the first-wicket partnership for 116 runs in 31.1 overs between Sadagopan Ramesh and Palashjyoti Das.

Ramesh, who was sent in the middle order this season, today played in his original position and opened the innings with Palashjyoti Das. The decision clicked and the first wicket partnership of 116 runs between the two provided the solid foundation needed for the victory.

Ramesh played a classic knock of 97 runs which came off 159 balls. He hit 11 boundaries and one six. The remaining job was done by captain Sarath who remained not out at 94. His innings comprised nine boundaries. The two batsmen were well supported by Palashjyoti Das (35), Mrigen Talukdar (32) and Rajdeep Das (19 not out).

With this win Assam collected five points and rose to second position in Group A with 11 points behind group leaders Gujarat.



In the last Group A match to be played at Guwahati, Assam will face Tripura.

Scorecard:
Services 1st innings: 406 all out
Assam 1st innings: 259 all out
Services 2nd innings (overnight 83 for 1):
Soumik Chatterjee c Nishanta Bordoloi b Bichitra Baruah 19; Tahir Khan c & b Arlen Konwar 55; Devender Israni r/o 44; Yashpal Singh c Somasetty Suresh b Bichitra Baruah 14; Mumtaj Quadir not out 4; Jasvir Singh not out 13;
Total (158 for 4 in 35 overs declared).
Fall of wickets: 1/37 2/ 21 3/141 4/146
Bowling: Krishna Das 6-3-11-0; Dhiraj Goswami 4-1-15-0; Bichitra Baruah 11-58-2; Arlen Konwar 11-1-50-1; Somasetty Suresh 3-1-15-0

Assam 2nd Innings:
Palash Jyoti Das st Devender b AK Mohanti 35; Sadagopan Ramesh c Yaspal b Arun Sharma 97; Nishanta Bordoloi r/o 1; Shridharan Sarath not out 94; Mrigen Talukdar c Tahir b Arun Sharma 32; Rajdeep Das not out 19
Total (307 for 4 in 76.4 overs)
Fall of wickets: 1/116 2/123 3/193 4/260
Bowling: Rakesh Kumar 9-0-32-0; Hari Prashad 5-0-10-0; Arun Sharma 25-2-92-2; AK Mohonti 24-3-86-1; SS Patwal 6-1-24-0; Soumik Chatterjee 2-0-9-0; Yaspal Singh 5.4-0-34-0