Ranji Trophy: Assam beat Goa by 7 runs, gains six points

Hosts Assam defeated Goa by 7 runs in a pulsating Ranji Trophy Group C game on Tuesday after having conceded a narrow first innings lead to the visitors. Resuming at their overnight score of 166 for 6, Goa needed 218 for an outright win, but were shot out for 210 at the Barsapara cricket stadium here on the fourth and final day.

Goa’s hopes were pinned on Amit Verma and Lakshay Garg, who started the final day from their respective overnight scores of 62 and 57. Verma could add only 12 runs to his overnight score and fell for 74. He was the seventh man to be dismissed. Then Garg (73) staged a lone battle and took the visitors to the doorsteps of a thrilling victory.

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However, Garg, who hit seven boundaries and two sixes in his 105-ball knock, could not finish the job. He was the ninth man out with 202 on the board. Then right-arm medium pacer Arup Das (6-67) trapped number 11 batsman Krishna Das (2) in front of the wicket to hand Assam a memorable win.

Das had bagged three wickets in the first innings. The victory helped Assam take their points tally to 20 from 7 games. They are fourth on the ten-team table, while Goa are at the bottom of the standings.

Meanwhile, at Ranchi, left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem bowled hosts Jharkhand to an 81-run victory over Services with excellent figures of 7 for 62.

Jharkhand had conceded the first innings lead and then turned the match around to bag six points and boost their tally to 30 from 7 games. They are in third spot. At Jammu, Odisha defeated Jammu and Kashmir by eight wickets.

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The game between table toppers Rajasthan and Haryana at Jaipur ended in a tame draw with the hosts walking away with three points on the basis of the first innings lead.

Brief scores:

At Guwahati: Assam 175 and 235 (Rishav Das 67, Amit Sinha 52; Krishna Das 4-69) beat Goa 193 and 210 (Amit Verma 74, Lakshay Garg 73; Arup Das 6-67) by 7 runs. Assam 6 points, Goa 0 points.

At Ranchi: Jharkhand 193 and 343 (Utkarsh Singh 114, Kumar Deobrat 53; Rajat Paliwal 3-29) defeat Services 267 and 188 (Rahul Singh Gahlaut 61, Mohit Ahlawat 52, Shahbaz Nadeem 7-62) by 81 runs. Jharkhand 6 points Services 0 points.

At Jaipur: Haryana 118 and 462/8 (C K Bishnoi 94, Himanshu Rana 83, R Chahar 5-151) drew with Rajasthan 490/6 declared (Robin Bist 150 not out, M K Lomror 106, Yuzvendra Chahal 3-107). Rajasthan 3 points, Haryana 1 point.

At Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir 127 and 391 (Parvez Rasool 158, Qamran Iqbal 67, Basant Mohanty 4-59)  lost to Odisha 323 and 197/2 (Shantanu Mishra 78, Subranshu Senapati 72 not out, Mohammed Mudhasir 1-35) by 8 wickets. Odisha 6 points, Jammu and Kashmir 0 points.