Assam was crowned the East Zone Ranji Trophy one day cricket champions
when they demolished Tripura by eight wickets at the Barabati Stadium here
today. 
Assam pipped Bengal to take the title by snatching a bonus
point from their last tie as they reached the winning target of 195 runs in
39.1 overs losing two wickets.
Assam collected 15 points from their four matches against Bengal's
14 off the same number of matches.
Bengal, in their last encounter, rode a 131-run third wicket
partnership between opener Wriddhiman Saha (85) and Manoj Tiwari
(69) to defeat Jharkhand by four wickets at the Infosys ground in Bhubaneswar.
At Cuttack, Assam elected to field first and fine bowling by
promising Abu Nachim Ahmed (2/27), Sujay Tarafdar (2/41) and Arlen Konwar
(4/37) saw Tripura crumble in 194 all out in 48.5 overs.
For Tripura, Chetan Sachdev (50) was the top scorer
while Rajesh Banik (24), Subal Choudhury (23) and opener Subhrajit Roy (20)
were the other contributors.
Assam began the chase shakily losing opener Sourav Bhagwati
and one-drop Tarjinder Singh both of whom failed to open their accounts.
But opener Pervez Aziz cracked a fine unbeaten 108 (130
balls, 11 fours, four sixes) and shared an unbroken third wicket stand of 189
runs with skipper J.Arun kumar who made an unconquered 76 (93 balls, eight fours)
to take the team to victory.
At Bhubaneswar, Jharkhand, who required to win the tie against
Bengal and also claim a bonus point to come on par with the opponents, decided
to bat first after winning the toss.
They, however, could never take charge of the proceedings as
wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals and the team failed to get going
against the pace of Ranadeb Bose (2/37) and Shib Shankar Paul (2/31).
Left arm spinner Shiv Sagar Singh also made inroads by claiming
two wickets for 28 runs.
For Jharkhand, Rajiv Kumar top scored with 63 (103 balls, six fours, one six)
as the team could muster 204 in 47.3 overs.
Bengal's chase also commenced with a couple of hiccups as opener
Subhamay Das (2) and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (2) were sent back by medium pacer
Mihir Diwakar who was Jharkhand's best bowler with figures of 10-2-13-2.
But Wriddhiman Saha and Manoj Tiwari batted with assurance
to take the team to safety.
Saha's 85 (137 balls, nine fours) was complimented by the promising Tiwari,
who hit form for the first time in the tournament to make 69 off the same number
of balls. Tiwari blasted four huge sixes and two fours during his knock
|
