Assam loss again in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20

By our Sports Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 26: Assam made it difficult to qualify into the next round of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 cricket championship as they lost their third game to Tripura by six wickets at Cuttack today. It was the second consecutive defeat for Assam in the championship.

Assam made good start in the game and put 172-8 in their 20 overs after elected to bat. Sib Sankar Roy 46 (36B, 4x4, 6x1) was the top scorer while opener Pallav Das scored 26 balls 36 (4x3, 6x2).

Tripura reached the target in 19.1 overs thanks to a nice unbeaten knock from Yogesh Takawale (68, 49B, 4x6, 6x2). Except Syed Mohammad (1-22, 4 overs) no other bowlers from Assam were able to earn respect from the opponent batsmen. Pritam Das, the most successful bowler of Assam, spent 43 runs to collect two wickets in his 4 overs spell. With this loss Assam demoted to fourth place in the points table collecting 4 points from 3 matches. Tripura also earned same points but they bagged the third spot by virtue of the better net run rate. Odisha and Jharkhand are in the first two positions. Bengal, surprising all, are now bottom of the table. They already played two games in the competition but failed to open their account yet.

Brief score: Assam 172-8 (20 Overs), Pallav Kumar Das 36, Sibsankar Roy 46, Pritam Debth 23, AK Sarkar 2-29, Tushar Saha 3-23 Tripura 175-4 U Bose 30, S Majumder 39, Yogesh Takawale 68 (no), Pritam Das 2-43.