GUWAHATI, Nov 17 - The four-day Group A Ranji Trophy match between Assam and Delhi was at a crucial juncture when bad light forced penultimate day�s play today.
At the Barsapara cricket stadium here, requiring 165 for an outright victory, Assam were 70 for three when play was called for the day after the tea break.
Resuming their second innings at overnight total of 101 for four, Delhi were all out for 172. The Delhi tail failed to deliver as their last four batsmen, barring Manan Sharma (17) could not reach double figure. For Assam, Amit Verma and J Syed Mohammad removed three scalps each capitalizing on the turning behaviour of the wicket.
Assam made a disappointing start losing opener Pallav Das at team�s total of 10 and after just one run, Sarupam Purkayastha, too, lost his wicket before opening his account. But rookie Rahul Hazarika showed his determination and added 42 runs for the third wicket with his senior partner Amit Verma. Amit was caught by Gautam Gambhir off Manan for 11 and left Assam tottering at 53 for three. However, Rahul (30) and KB Arun Karthik (13) stemmed the rot adding 17 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket partnership. Assam could play 32 overs today. Rahul faced 94 deliveries and hit two confident boundaries.
SCORECARD
Delhi 1st innings: 149
Assam 1st innings: 157
Delhi 2nd innings: U Chand c Purkayastha b K Das 44, G Gambhir lbw b K Das 0, DR Shorey lbw b Sharma 38, N Rana c Saikia b Sharma 19, Milind Kumar b Amit Verma 20, P Narang not out 26, P Bisht c sub (PL Das) b Amit Verma 0, Manan Sharma lbw b Syed Mohammad 17, PJ Sangwan c Sharma b Syed Mohammad 2, P Awana st Saikia b Amit Verma 2, NA Saini c Sharma b Syed Mohammad 0. Extras: (b 4) 4. Total: (all out; 83.2 overs; 348 mins) 172. Fall of wicket: 1-3, 2-70, 3-96, 4-101, 5-135, 6-135, 7-166, 8-168, 9-171, 10-172. Bowling: K Das 18-8-32-2, P Das 13-2-28-0, J Syed Mohammad 15.2-0-49-3, Amit Verma 21-6-42-3, G Sharma 16-5-17-2.
Assam 2nd innings: P Das c Manan Sharma b Saini 5, R Hazarika not out 30, S Purkayastha b Sangwan 0, Amit Verma c Gambhir b Manan Sharma 11, KB Arun Karthik not out 13. Extras: (b 4, lb 4, nb 3) 11. Total: (3 wickets; 32 overs) 70. Fall of wicket: 1-10, 2-11, 3-53. Bowling: PJ Sangwan 11-2-24-1, NA Saini 7-0-18-1, P Awana 7-4-3-0, P Narang 4-1-6-0, N Rana 2-2-0-0. Manan Sharma 1-0-11-1.
