Ranji Trophy: Pravej Musaraf-led Assam batting foils Chhattisgarh's victory push

Led by a match-saving knock from opener Pravej Musaraf, Assam eked out a draw and a point against Chhattisgarh in their Elite Group D Ranji Trophy match in Raipur on Saturday.

Trailing by 153 runs to the hosts' mammoth first-innings total of 500 and with nine wickets in hand, Assam batters put on display their patience and discipline to play through most part of Day 4 at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium. Riding a crucial knock of 94 by Masaraf - and aided by a useful half-century by Sibsankar Roy (55) and a 43 from Sumit Ghadigaonkar, Assam set Chhattisgarh a target of 69 to win the match.

But with the light already fading and very little time left in the day's final session to achieve the goal, Chhattisgarh could only muster eight runs in one over before the umpires called it a day and shared the honours.

The draw meant that Assam languished at the bottom of Group D table with five points from as many games while Chhattisgarh - who earned three points from their first-innings lead - lay two rungs above them on sixth with 11 points after the fifth round.

There was, however, no dearth of effort from the Chhattisgarh bowlers to claim the remaining nine Assam wickets on the day as quickly as possible. But they were undone by the resolute Assam batters who frantically held their ground in hopes of a draw and ended the second innings on 279.

The only exception was the in-form Ravi Kiran, who managed another five-wicket haul in the match with his figures of 5 for 54 in 20 overs. Kiran ended with a 10-wicket match haul and took the title of Player of the Match despite the brilliant double century by his teammate Aayush Pandey in the first innings.

Pandey was short of time to play an encore of his earlier feat and stayed unbeaten on 7 off 5 balls - along with co-opener Anuj Tiwary (1 not out) - when stumps were called.

For Assam, resuming on overnight 58/1, Musaraf was the architect-in-chief of the draw with his 172-ball 94 that included 13 boundaries and one that went over. His second-wicket partnership with Roy that lasted for 243 balls not only added 136 runs to the team total but it also snuffed out the hosts' hope for an outright win.

Musaraf could not complete a well-deserved century as he was run out on a throw from Bhupen Lalwani. However, despite the individual misfortune, his knock did not go in vain in breaking his team's run of successive losses.


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