GUWAHATI, Oct 11 - Only a few days ago, Assam was termed as minnows by a section of national media. But now, it is evident that Assam, the only north-eastern team in the Ranji Trophy, is no more a minnow as it stunned the cricket pundits of the country by registering an innings victory against Rajasthan after garnering three points from the match against the last two year�s champions Karnataka.
It was one of the best performances by Assam in its 67-year-old history in the Ranji Trophy as they handed an innings and 152-run drubbing to Rajasthan at the Barsapara Stadium here today. The visitors were skittled out for a paltry 84 in their second innings.
Assam garnered seven points from this emphatic victory.
Krishna Das was the architect of Assam�s win with a career-best match haul of 10 for 55. In the second innings, his Barpeta compatriot Arup Das provided him able support and the both bowled in tandem to wreck Rajasthan in their second innings, claiming five wickets each.
The visitors needed 189 more runs today to make Assam bat again, but fell cheaply as the Barpeta duo took advantage of the morning moisture and ripped through the Rajasthan batting line-up.
The wicket was well covered and no damage was done by the heavy overnight rains. The day�s play started at the right time and from the very first over, Assam pacers were on top, troubling the rival team�s batsmen.
Finally, Assam took only 13.4 overs to polish off the remaining seven wickets.
SCORECARD
Rajasthan 1st innings 186
Assam 1st 422/9
Rajasthan 2nd innings (overnight 47/3): PI Sharma lbw b Krishna Das 15, VA Saxena c Saikia b Arup Das 1, AL Menaria lbw b Arup Das 21, R Bishnoi c Saikia b Krishna Das 0, Puneet Yadav b Krishna Das 1, DH Yagnik lbw b Arup Das 2, K Ajay Singh b K Das 10, DL Chahar c Saikia b Krishna Das 18, M Khatri c Saikia b Arup Das 5, A Choudhary not out 0, NB Singh b Arup Das 0. Extras: (b 4, lb 5, nb 2) 11; Total (all out; 28.4 overs) 84. Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-28, 3-28, 4-48, 5-48, 6-50, 7-79, 8-80, 9-84, 10-84. Bowling: Arup Das 13.4-3-39-5, Krishna Das 12-5-23-5, Sarupam Purkayastha 2-0-13-0, Amit Verma 1-1-0-0.
