Newly-appointed captain Riyan Parag’s excellent all-round performance and medium-pacer Pritam Das’ three-wicket haul propelled Assam to a 13-run win over Bengal in an Elite group B match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 cricket tournament at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday.
Inserted in, Assam posted a challenging 157 for five and stopped Bengal at 144 for eight to ensure its second win. Assam lost Rishav Das and Pallav Das (20, 11b, 4x4) to Ishan Porel inside three overs. Parag (77 n.o., 54b, 5x4, 5x6) and Denish Das (34, 36b, 2x4, 1x6) combined well to gather 76 runs.
Parag played some power-packed shots to the boundary on either side. He ran well with Denish to take Assam to a decent position. Later, Parag joined forces with Erik Roy (19 n.o., 12b, 3x4) to collect 57 runs in the last five overs.
Falling sideways
In reply, Bengal had another brisk start thanks to the attacking approach of its openers Vivek Singh (21, 14b, 3x4, 1x6) and Shreevats Goswami (16, 10b, 3x4).
Goswami was caught behind while trying a late cut off Mukhtar Hussain and Vivek was held at long-off off Parag in successive overs inside the Powerplay.
The seasoned duo of captain Anustup Majumdar (48 n.o., 47b, 4x4) and Manoj Tiwary (33, 22b, 3x4, 2x6) rotated the strike and punished the loose deliveries to add 64 runs at a good pace.
Parag broke the stand as Tiwary, who showed his aggression and hit two lovely sixes down the ground, skied one to point in the 13th over. The dismissals of Shahbaz Ahmed (13) and Suvankar Bal to Pritam Das in the 18th over, turned the game around for Assam.
Writtick Chatterjee and Akash Deep fell in the 19th over and Prayas Ray Barman, claimed by Pritam, in 20th as the home team wilted under pressure.
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