Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Assam lose to Railways in hard-fought match

Our Sports Reporter

GUWAHATI: Assam went down to Railways by three wickets in a closely contested Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match in Lucknow on Sunday. Chasing 133 for victory, Railways reached the target in 19.4 overs with seven wickets down.

Assam, bat first in the match, had a disastrous start, losing both openers with only two runs on the board. Denish Das fell without scoring, followed shortly by Sumit Ghadigaonkar (1).

The middle order, however, helped Assam recover and post a competitive total. Though skipper Riyan Parag (15) could not convert his start, valuable contributions from Sibsankar Roy (30 off 25, 4x4), Nihar Deka (27 off 26, 3x4), and Saahil Jain (38 off 29, 3x4, 1x6) guided the team to 132 for 7 in 20 overs. For Railways, Atal Bihari Rai, R. Sharma and Karn Sharma picked up two wickets each.

In reply, Railways also lost an early wicket with opener Shivam Choudhury dismissed for 6. A steady 43-run stand between A.R. Pandey (36) and Mohammad Saif (29 off 15, 2x4, 2x6) on the second-wicket brought stability to the chase. Despite losing a few wickets in the middle overs, a brisk unbeaten 24 off 16 balls in the latter stages by captain Karn Sharma sealed the win for Railways.

Akash Sengupta was the standout bowler for Assam, returning figures of 4 for 35.

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