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Valsad, February 6
Assam etched their names in domestic cricket history, beating much-fancied Punjab by 51 runs to enter the Ranji Trophy semifinals for the first time here on Saturday. Medium pacer Arup Das (8/83) was the star performer for Assam.
Needing 288 for victory, Punjab were precariously placed at 224/8, needing 64 runs to win, at the start of the day. The Punjab batsmen, however, lasted just 20 minutes, adding merely 12 runs to the overnight total. Assam needed just 3.2 overs today to bowl out the fancied opponents for 236.
Das picked both the wickets. First, he trapped Geetansh Khera (35) right in front of the wicket, and then, in his very next over, dismissed last man Deepak Bansal in the same fashion.
Even though Assam were bundled out for 101 in their second innings, the 186-run first innings’ lead helped them set Punjab a challenging target.
In the semifinals, Assam will face Saurashtra at Vadodara while Mumbai will play Madhya Pradesh in Cuttack. Saurashtra had defeated Vidarbha by an innings and 85 runs in their quarterfinal clash which ended on Friday.
Meanwhile in Mysuru, spinners Jay Bista and Iqbal Abdulla ripped through the Jharkhand line-up with their five-wicket hauls as Mumbai completed a massive 395-run win. At the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh edged past Bengal into the last-four stage on the basis of the first-innings lead. — Agencies
Ranji quarters
Brief scores: Assam: 323 and 101; Punjab: 137 and 236 (G Mann 64, M Sidhana 43, A Das 8/83, D Goswami 2/38).Mumbai: 416 & 245; Jharkhand: 172 and 94 in 42.4 overs (SP Gautam 27, J Bista 5/16, I Abdulla 5/35) MP: 348 and 560/9 decl (Harpreet 139, R Patidar 137, A Dinda 2/92); Bengal: 121 and 113/3 (S Mondal 39, M Tiwary 39*, Jalaj Saxena 1/21)
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