GUWAHATI, April 27 � Dibrugarh took a first innings lead against Nagaon and the result confirmed Silchar a berth in the final of the Nuruddin Ahmed Trophy Elite Group senior inter-district cricket championship.
On the final day of the two-day league match at the Nehru Stadium here today, in reply to Nagaon�s first innings total of 324, Dibrugarh, resuming at the over night total of 61 for one, scored 325 for nine before the match was called off.
Credit goes to Dibrugarh middle order batsman Jyotiraditya Chetia who almost single-handedly took his team to the safe shores.
But their three points from this match will not help them reach the final as their total came to five points from three matches. NF Railway are already through to the final with eight points from two matches while Silchar bagged six from as many matches. Both Dibrugarh and Nagaon have completed their engagements with five and four points respectively.
Had Nagaon taken a first innings lead against Dibrugarh, their points would have been six and in that situation, Silchar will have to collect atleast one point from their match against Railway which starts tomorrow, but the match is of academic interest.
Jyotiraditya today cracked 114 and built three solid partnerships with Saurav Bhagawati (106 for the fourth wicket), Kalyan Gogoi (62 for the third wicket) and Biswajit Sarkar (37 for the seventh wicket).
Jyotiraditya stayed at the crease for 253 minutes and his knock was studded with 18 hits to the rope. Saurav contributed 50 off 94 balls.
At one stage, Nagaon were in an advantageous position grabbing eight wickets with the scoreboard reading 283. But number nine batsman Rituparna Phatuwali (28 n.o) and Deepak Gohain (14) showed their courage and added 42 runs for the ninth wicket which ruined Nagaon�s hope of making to the final. Left arm spinner Bichitra Baruah was the most successful Nagaon bowler with a five- wicket haul while Dhiraj Goswami took two.
Brief scores: Nagaon 1st innings 324 . Dibrugarh 1st innings 325/9 (Jyotiraditya Chetia 114, Saurav Bhagawati 50, Kalyan Gogoi 37, Suraj Chaturbedi 34, Rituparna Phatuwali 28, Bichitra Baruah 5/123, Dhiraj Goswami 2/55).
