KOLKATA: Riding on
Amit Verma's all-round performance,
Assam got the better of
Jharkhand
by four wickets in a
Syed Mushtaq Ali East Zone
Twenty20 match here at the Eden Gardens.
Verma (3/17) chipped in with three wickets to restrict Jharkhand to 133 for nine in their allotted 20 overs before scoring an unbeaten half-century to help Assam reach 137 for six in 18.3 overs.
Put in to bat, Jharkhand got off to a good start but
Abu Nechim (3/24) took two wickets in two overs to leave them reeling at 73 for four.
Verma then accounted for the next four wickets -- three with his legspin, besides effecting a run out.
For Jharkhand, Virat Singh top scored with 26 runs.
Chasing a modest target of 134, Assam struggled as Jharkhand's fast bowling combination of Varun Aaron and Rahul Shukla shared four wickets between them, while Shahbaz Nadeem and Kaushal Singh took wicket apiece.
However, Verma played a responsible knock, hitting an unbeaten 55 off 41 deliveries studded with three boundaries and four sixes to seal the victory for Assam with more than an over to spare.
Brief scores:Jharkhand: 133 for 9 in 20 overs (Virat Singh 26; Amit Verma 3/17, Abu Nechim 3/24).
Assam: 137 for 6 in 18.3 overs (Amit Verma 55 not out, Sibsankar Roy 34; Rahul Shukla 2/30, Varun Aaron 2/39).
Meanwhile, in another East Zone match, Odisha defeated Tripura by 10 runs.
Brief scores:Odisha: 131 for 6 in 20 overs (Aravind Singh 23 not out; Abhijit Sarkar 3/22).
Tripura: 121 for 8 in 20 overs (Gurinder Singh 28 not out; Dhiraj Singh 3/18).