Jharkhand beat Assam, keep hopes alive in Vijay Hazare trophy

Kolkata, Feb 21: Riding on a brilliant unbeaten 159 by Ishank Jaggi, Jharkhand defeated Assam by 38 runs in their penultimate match in East Zone leg of Vijay Hazare trophy at Jadavpur University ground in Salt Lake here on Saturday.

Today`s win will keep Jharkhand`s hope of securing a berth in the final round alive.

After Jharkhand scored 304 for three in stipulated 50 overs, Assam could manage only 266 for eight.

Though Orissa are in the second spot with 9 points, the runner-up from this zone could only be decided after both the teams play their last matches on February 23.

Bengal have already moved into final round maintaining a clean slate.

Ishank, whose hurricane knock came off only 146 balls and with the help of 15 boundaries and four sixers, left Assam bowlers in a shamble.

Ishank found an able ally in Saurav Tiwary, who scored 64 off 61 balls with seven hits to the fence.

Besides, opener Rameez Neemat and Shiv Gautam made 31 and unbeaten 28, respectively.

Chasing the target, Assam started on a poor note and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Only Dhiraj Goswami (61), R R Parida (53) and Deepak Sharma (52) offered some challenge to the opponent bowlers, but those were clearly not enough win the match.

However, to the delight of the crowd, Goswami exhibited some aggressive batting and reached 61 off 48 balls with seven fours and a huge sixer.

Medium pacer Kuldip Sharma was the most successful bowler for Jharkhand who bagged four wickets for 60 runs in nine overs. Other wicket takers for Jharkhand were Sharma and Keshav Kumar.
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