GUWAHATI, March 12 � A dashing 135-run first wicket partnership between Pritam Debnath and Parvez Aziz enabled Assam clinch their preliminary round match of the Sayed Mustaq Ali T-20 tournament.
At Indore today, Assam defeated Railways by seven wickets scoring 156 for three against Railways� 155 for seven.
Batting first, Railways managed to score 155, where Dhiran Salvi remained the top scorer with 60. SN Khanolkar was the other notable scorer with 47. For Assam, Sujay Tarafdar, Arup Das, Dhiraj Goswami, Sairaj Bahutule and Parvez Aziz took one wicket each.
The total was not a big one for the Assam batsmen as they reached the target with five balls to spare. Parvez top scored with 75 off 51 deliveries with six fours and five sixes, while Pritam added 55 from 48 balls. He hit six boundaries and two over the rope in his gritty knock.
Now in the quarterfinals, Assam will play against Delhi on March 14.
Abu did not turn up: Pace bowler Abu Naschim Ahmed, who is in the 23-member Mumbai Indian squad for the IPL, did not turn up for the State team. The Assam Cricket Association had asked Abu to join the State team at Indore but he preferred to stay with his IPL team.
SCORECARD
Railways innings (20 overs maximum): AUK Pathan b Tarafdar 5, KV Sharma b Goswami 8, TP Singh b Das 3, SN Khanolkar run out 47, SB Bangar c Rajdeep Das b Bahutule 18, Jai P Yadav b Aziz 1, DP Salvi not out 60, A Mandhani run out 5, AH Shahid not out 0; Extras: (lb 4, w 4) 8; Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 155; Fall of wickets:1-7, 2-16, 3-23, 4-60, 5-62, 6-135, 7-145; Bowling: S Tarafdar 4-0-29-1, AK Das 4-0-33-1, DS Goswami 3-0-20-1, SV Bahutule 4-0-27-1, P Aziz 3-0-20-1, DS Jadhav 1-0-11-0, Deepak Sharma 1-0-11- 0.
Assam innings (target: 156 runs from 20 overs): PK Debnath c Singh b Upadhyay 55, P Aziz b Yadav 75, AS Sinha run out (Sharma) 5, Deepak Sharma not out 11, KN Saikia not out 0; Extras: (b 2, lb 6, w 1, nb 1) 10; Total (3 wickets; 19.1 overs) 156; Fall of wickets:1-135, 2-138, 3-154; Bowling: SB Bangar 2-0-24-0, SN Khanolkar 3-0-21-0, K Upadhyay 4-0-19-1, Jai P Yadav 4-0-20-1, AH Shahid 2-0-15-0, A Mandhani 1-0-15-0, KV Sharma 2-0-25-0, Anureet Singh 1.1-0-9-0.
