Assam’s fairy tale run continued as it stunned Punjab by 51 runs for its maiden entry into the semifinals of the Ranji Trophy. At the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium here on Saturday morning, seamer Arup Das prised out the last two wickets in a matter of 18 minutes to set off an explosion of joy both on the field and off it. The seamer finished with excellent match figures of 11 for 124, including a jaw-dropping eight for 83 in the second essay.
When play began, Punjab needed 64 runs for an unlikely win. And there was no way Assam was going to allow that. Das took it upon himself to seal the deal by removing wicketkeeper-batsman Gitansh Khera, who failed to add to his overnight tally of 35. The last wicket, of No. 11 Deepak Bansal, fell in strikingly similar fashion only 10 deliveries later. Like he got rid of Khera, Das brought the ball in to trap the right-hander in front of the wicket.
No sooner did the umpire raise the finger than the Assam players rushed to the far corner of the field, their cries of ecstasy reverberating through the stadium.
The party soon shifted to the area outside the dressing room where many a player, including Das got an ice bath! There were high-fives, back-slaps, hugs, giggles and a lot more.
Das, who also completed 100 wickets in the Ranji Trophy, cut a cake in the dressing room.
Assam will now travel to Vadodara for the semifinal against Saurashtra.
The scores:
Assam — 1st innings: 323.
Punjab — 1st innings: 137.
Assam — 2nd innings: 101.
Punjab — 2nd innings: Jiwanjot Singh c Karthik b Arup 9, Pargat Singh c Pallav b Arup 16, Uday Kaul c Karthik b Arup 0, Mandeep Singh c Pallav b Goswami 29, Gurkeerat Mann c Gokul b Goswami 64, Mayank Sidhana c Gokul b Arup 43, Gitansh Khera lbw b Arup 35, Harbhajan Singh c Verma b Arup 8, Siddarth Kaul c Karthik b Arup 10, Barinder Sran (not out) 16, Deepak Bansal lbw b Arup 3; Extras (lb-3): 3; Total (in 63.2 overs): 236.
Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-25, 3-26, 4-96, 5-133, 6-189, 7-197, 8-211, 9-230.
Assam bowling: Krishna Das 24-4-72-0, Arup Das 21.2-2-83-8, Goswami 10-2-38-2, Pallav Kumar Das 7-1-29-0, Verma 1-0-11-0.
Result: Assam won by 51 runs
