Assam vs Tripura Ranji Plate Match

Assam pipped by Kerala for semi-final spot:

Guwahati, Dec 12: Assam failed to take the first-innings lead against Tripura in their Ranji Plate Division Group A league match on the fourth and final day at Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday, which resulted to Kerala pipping them by one point for a semi-final berth.

Resuming on 245 for four, Assam needed 216 runs on the final day to surpass Tripura’s first innings 460, but were all out for 410 with Tushar Saha removing overnight not out batsmen Palashjyoti Das and Sridharan Sharath.

The hosts were kept in the hunt by Sadagopan Ramesh, who made an unbeaten 161-ball 101.

Dhiraj Goswami hung around for 105 balls for his 16, as along with Ramesh he added 91 for the seventh wicket. But, all these were not enough as Assam fell short by 50 runs.

Tripura got three points by virtue of their first innings’ lead but still finished last in the group with 11 points while Assam collected one point from the drawn match to swell their total point to 12 and had to be content with third place.

In Surat, Kerala collected five points by virtue of an outright win against Gujarat, who have already qualified for the semi-final from Group A with 22 points from four matches, by nine wickets to aggregate 13 points and book the second semi-final spot from the group.

A simple first innings lead for Assam against Tripura would have ensured them three points from the match and a berth in the semi-finals.

Brief Scorecard:
Tripura 460 (Nishit Shetty 165; Tushar Saha 73 not out; Rajib Saha 66; Krishna Das 5/140) drew with Assam 410 (Palashjyoti Das 114; Sadagopan Ramesh 101 not out; Sridharan Sharath 71; Tushar Saha 4/114)

Another Story:

Ranji Plate Group A Match

Tripura 285/4 on Day One against Assam:

Guwahati, Dec 9: Nishit Shetty smashed a career-best 164 not out to propel Tripura to a healthy 285 for 4 against Assam on the first day of four-day Ranji Trophy Plate Division Group A match at Nehru Stadium here on Sunday.

Electing to bat after winning the toss, Tripura were in touch of bother at 32 for 3 before Shetty added 106 runs for the fourth wicket with Rajib Saha, who made his highest first-class score of 66, and a further 147 for the unbroken fifth wicket with Timir Chanda (36 not out).

Shetty struck 26 boundaries in his 232-ball knock as Tripura headed towards a big first-innings total.

For Assam, Krishna Das and Dhiraj Goswami took two wickets apiece, conceding 73 and 54 runs respectively.

Brief Scorecard:
Tripura 1st innings: 285 for 4 (Shetty 164 batting; Rajib saha 66; Timir Chanda batting 36; Krshna Das 2/73; Dhiraj Goswami 2/54)

Ranji Plate Division Match

Tripura beat Kerala, secure 5 points:

Agartala, Dec 4: Tripura beat Kerala by four wickets in their Ranji Trophy Plate Group A match at the Maharaja Bir Bikram Stadium here on Tuesday to bag five valuable points.

Set 270 to win, Tripura, who were 25 without loss in their second innings overnight, reached the target for the loss of six wickets.

Hosts captain Rajesh Banik scored 76 from 120 balls with the help of 14 boundaries. Nitish Shethy (62 from 64 balls) and Rajib Saha (48) also made valuable contributions.

Banik and Saha added 124 for the third wicket and Saha and Shetty added 49 for the fourth wicket.

For Kerala, S Cheruvathar took three wickets for 33 runs.

The match was evenly contested in the first innings with Kerala scoring 179 and Tripura replying with 185.

Kerala declared their second innings at 275 for seven on the third day evening on Monday to give a challenging target for the hosts.

But, the bold declaration backfired as Tripura chased down the 270-run target with four wickets and more than 20 overs to spare.

Brief Scorecard:
Tripura 185 and 270 for 6 (Rajesh Banik 76; Nitish Shetty 62 not out; Cheruvathur 3/33) beat Kerala 179 and 275 for 7 declared by four wickets