GUWAHATI, Feb 24 - A superb partnership of 104 runs for the sixth-wicket between skipper Amit Sinha (77 off 55 balls) and Rajjakuddin Ahmed (35 off 18 balls) helped Assam defeat Chhattisgarh by five wickets in their Group D match of the Syed Muhstaq Ali T20 Cricket Tournament at the DRIEMS Ground in Cuttack today.
Put in to bat, Chhattisgarh scored 194 runs for the loss of two wickets in their stipulated overs. Skipper Harpreet Singh Bhatia top scored with 92 runs off 54 balls while Shashank Chandrakar chipped in with 56 runs off 35 balls. In reply, Assam notched up the target losing five wickets in 20 overs with Amit Sinha top scoring with 77 while Sib Sankar Roy contributed 52 runs off 35 balls. Rajjakuddin Ahmed went on to remain unbeaten on 35 runs hitting two boundaries and three sixes. For Chhattisgarh, Pankaj Rao bagged two wickets for 34 runs in 4 overs while Shakeeb Ahmed, Ajay Mandal and Vishal Singh picked up a wicket each.
Brief Scores: Chhattisgarh 194/2 in 20 overs (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 92, Shashank Chandrakar 56, Amandeep Khare 30 n.o.; Mukhtar Hussain 1/26, Abu Nechim Ahmed 1/38) lost to Assam 195/5 in 20 overs (Amit Sinha 77 n.o., Sib Sankar Roy 52, Rajjakuddin Ahmed 35 n.o.; Pankaj Rao 2/34, Vishal Singh 1/20, Ajay Mandal 1/23, Shakeeb Ahmed 1/50).