Internet Desk : Medium pacer Arup Das wreaked havoc with figures of 8/83 as an unfancied Assam continued their giant-killing spree in the Ranji Trophy, defeating Punjab by 51 runs to enter the semi-finals here today.
Needing 288 for victory, Punjab were precariously placed at 224 for eight, needing 64 runs to win with just two wickets in hand. They were finally all out for 236.
The final day’s play lasted barely 20 minutes as Assam got the two final two wickets in 3.2 overs with the addition of only 12 runs.
First it was Geetansh Khera (35), who got a delivery from Arup that moved in a shade to trap him in front in the very second over of the day.
In his next over, Arup brought joy for the Assam camp as Deepak Bansal was also trapped in front of the stumps as the Punjab second innings ended in 63.2 overs.
Even though Assam were skittled out for 101 in their second innings, they did well enough to get a huge first innings lead of 186 runs which enabled them to set a defendable target.
Meanwhile at Mysore, spinners Jay Bista and Iqbal Abdulla ripped through the Jharkhand line-up, notching up five-wicket hauls as Mumbai completed a massive 395-run win.
Bista had figures of 5/16 and Abdulla registered 5/35 as Jharkhand collasped to 94 all out after starting the day at 28/1 while chasing a target of 490 runs.
At the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh went through to the last four stage after they finished their drawn match against Bengal with a massive lead of 675 runs.
Starting the final day at the overnight score of 338/5, the Madhya Pradesh batsmen continued their run feast against the hapless Bengal bowlers before declaring their second innings at 560/9. Middle-order batsman Harpreet Singh dominated the bowlers with some excellent stroke play, converting his overnight score of 18 into a splendid century.
The 24-year-old posted 139 to be his team’s highest scorer in the second innings before being stumped by Bengal wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha off Pragyan Ojha’s bowling. He hit 14 boundaries during his 206-ball innings. The right-hander had scored a half-century during the first innings.
Harpreet’s overnight partner Ankit Dane was also in excellent form at the other end, posting a half-century as the duo added 149 runs for the sixth wicket. After Dane was sent back to the pavilion by leg-spinner Abhimanyu Easwaran, Harpreet kept the scoreboard ticking with a 65-run partnership with Ankit Sharma (25).
Set an improbable victory target of 788 runs, Bengal lost a couple of early wickets in their second innings before finishing at 113/3.
Saurashtra had defeated Vidarbha by an innings and 85 runs in their quarter-final clash which ended on Friday. In the semi-finals, Assam will face Saurashtra at Vadodara while Mumbai will play Madhya Pradesh in Cuttack. Both semi-finals will be held from February 13-17.
Brief scores:
Assam: 323 (Syed Mohammad 121, Pallavkumar Das 46; Kaul 4/99) and 101 (Arup 31, Sran 5/43, Kaul 4/25) beat Punjab: 137 (Sidhana 80, Arup 3/41) and 236 (Gurkeerat 64, Arup 8/83) by 51 runs.
Mumbai: 416 (Herwadkar 107, Nayar 74, Nadeem 5/140) and 245 (Iyer 81, Quadri 5/62) beat Jharkhand: 172 (Kaushal 43, Herwadkar 3/26) and 94 (Bista 5/16, Abdulla 5/35) by 395 runs.
Madhya Pradesh: 348 (Shrivastava 65, Ojha 64, Bundela 58, Harpreet 51; V.P. Singh 5/76) and 560 (Harpreet 139, Patidar 137, Bundela 72, Dane 69, Ojha 52) drew with Bengal: 121 (Easwaran 48; Pandey 4/45) and 113/3.