All-round Riyan Parag helps Assam down Bihar

KOLKATA: Going down to Odisha in their campaign opener on Monday, captain Riyan Parag's all-round show helped Assam to register a hard-fought five-run win over Bihar in their second match of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Asked to bat first in the morning game, Rishav Das and Pradyun Saikia gave Assam a 59-run opening stand before Riyan joined the party from where he left against Odisha.The 21-year-old skipper scored a quickfire 34-ball 61 with the help of four boundaries and five sixes as Assam reached 140 in the 16th over.
He returned after holing out to Akash Raj off off-spinner Suraj Kashyap's bowling and next man in, wicketkeeper Sumit Ghadigaonkar, did not last long as he perished after scoring 17 off seven balls.
It was then Pallavkumar Das's blitzkrieg 10-ball 29 down the order with two fours and three sixes that helped Assam reach the 200-run mark which proved to be crucial in the narrow victory.
Chasing 201 for win, Bihar started well despite losing captain Babul Kumar early on but opener Bipin Saurabh and No. 3 Sakibul Gani's 137-run stand for the second wicket kept them in the hunt before Riyan scalped both the set batters in the 17th over.
Needing 41 runs from the last 3.1 overs after the double breakthroughs, Akash Raj (13* off 13 balls) and Sachin Kumar (15 off 9) tried their best to take Bihar home but a disciplined end overs by Assam bowlers kept them five runs short of their first win of this edition.
Assam next play Services while Bihar take on Kerala on Thursday.
Brief scores: Assam 200/5 in 20 overs (R Parag 61, R Das 32, P Das 29; S Kashyap 2/34, S Gani 1/21). Bihar 195/4 in 20 overs (B Saurabh 85, S Gani 65; R Parag 2/25, M Hussain 1/36). Assam won by 5 runs.