GUWAHATI, Dec 14 - In a thrilling Group A league encounter of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the Gymkhana Ground, Hyderabad today, Star studded Punjab edged past Assam by one run.
In the high scoring match, in reply to Punjab�s 327 for four in 50 overs, Assam made a brilliant fightback but fell short by just one run as they were restricted to 326 for eight.
Put into bat Punjab batsmen punished the Assam bowlers hitting all round the wicket since the beginning. Mandip Singh was the leading scorer with 97-ball unbeaten 117. He hit 12 boundaries and three sixes. Pargat Singh (69), Gurkeerat Mann (62) and Yuvraj Singh (36) were the other notable contributors to the Punjab total.
Assam, while chasing the big total, suffered early blows losing opener Pallav Das for one. Number three batsman KB Arun Karthick also was out for nought. But a 124-run partnership between Sarupam Purkayastha (125, 112-balls, 18x4, 1x6) and Amit Verma (71) for the third wicket and a 107-run partnership between Sarupam and skipper Gokul Sharma (60) put Assam in a comfortable position.
However, Sarupam�s departure in the 39th over reduced Assam�s possibility for chasing the target successfully. Amit Sinha was run out while opting for a single off the last ball.
SCORECARD
Punjab: Jiwanjot Singh c Gokul Sharma b Pritam Das 32, Pargat Singh c Amit Sinha b Amit Verma 69, Mandeep Singh not out 117, Yuvraj Singh c Wasiqur Rahman b Amit Verma 36, Gurkeerat Mann c Sarupam Purkayastha b Abu Nechim Ahmed 62, Harbhajan Singh not out 1. Extras: (nb 0, w 3, b 0, lb 7) 10; Total: (4 wickets; 50 overs) 327. Fall of wickets: 1-67, 2-131, 3-187, 4-315. Bowling: Krishna Das 10-1-66-0, Abu Nechim Ahmed 10-1-51-1, Syed Mohammed 5-0-37-0, Pritam Das 8-1-56-1, Pallav Kumar Das 3-0-28-0, Amit Verma 10-0-61-2, Amit Sinha 3.3-0-20-0, Gokul Sharma 0.3-0-1-0.
Assam: Pallav Das c Pargat Singh b Siddharth Kaul 1, Sarupam Purkayastha c Gurkeerat Mann b Siddharth Kaul 125, KB Arun Karthick c Jiwanjot Singh b Siddharth Kaul 0, Amit Verma c Mandeep Singh b Harbhajan Singh 71, Gokul Sharma c Pargat Singh b Barinder Singh Sran 60, Syed Mohammed c Gitansh Khera b Deepak Bansal 22, Amit Sinha run out Barinder Singh Sran 20, Wasiqur Rahman c Gitansh Khera b Deepak Bansal 11, Abu Nechim Ahmed not out 1. Extras: (nb 0, w 11, b 2, lb 2) 15; Total: (8 wickets; 50 overs) 326. Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-15, 3-139, 4-246, 5-274, 6-299, 7-320, 8-326. Bowling: Siddharth Kaul 10-0-74-3, Barinder Singh Sran 10-0-66-1, Deepak Bansal 9-0-63-2, Mandeep Singh 4-0-29-0, Harbhajan Singh 10-0-55-1, Yuvraj Singh 5-0-27-0, Gurkeerat Mann 2-0-8-0.
