Assam defeats Delhi to register major Ranji Trophy upset

Karthik scored back to back half centuries for Assam

Traditional underdogs Assam have registered one of the biggest upsets in Ranji Trophy history by defeating Delhi with five wickets to spare in their Group A round seven game today. Buoyed by the performance of pacer Krishna Das, Assam bowled out Gautam Gambhir’s men for a lowly 149 in the first innings.

Assam scored 157/9, in reply to Delhi’s first innings score, thanks to a paced 81 by middle order batsman K B Arun Karthick. However, Arup Das fractured a thumb and couldn’t continue batting as he retired hurt.

Delhi’s second innings was yet another disappointment as they were bundled out for 172. Middle order batsmen Dhruv Shorey and Pulkit Narang showed some resistance, scoring 38 and 26 respectively. Gautam Gambir was dismissed without troubling the scorers, just adding four runs in the entirte match. The second innings was going smoothly for Delhi, until Amit Verma was introduced to the bowling attack. He took two wickes in his first two balls to leave Delhi’s batting line-up in complete disarray.

Left arm spinner Syed Mohammad, formerly from Tamil Nadu then initiated the clean-up job dismissing tail-ender Manan Sharma and Pradeep Sangwan in the span of two overs. This reduced Delhi to 168 for 8, however, the match was clouded with controversey, during Delhi’s second innings. Assam spinner Swarupam Purkayastha was reported for a suspect action. The umpires took a collective call of not allowing him to bowl, after reporting it to the Match Referee.

Chasing 164 runs on the final day, Assam made a poor start to their second innings, losing Pallav Das and Purkayastha for just 11 runs. However, half centuries from Karthick and Hazarika steadied the ship for Assam, as they coasted to ther target. They reached the total having lost just five wickets. Manan Sharma was the pick of the Delhi bowlers, getting two wickets. A quick-fire 15 from Syed Mohammad saw, the North East side record a historic victory over the group A leaders.

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Brief Scorecard:

Delhi 1st innings: 149

Milind Kumar 45;K Das 4/38

Assam 1st innings: 157

KB Arun Karthik 81; Manan Sharma 4/41

Delhi 2nd innings: 172

U Chand 44; Amit Verma 3/42

Assam 2nd innings: 168/5

RG Hazarika 59; Manan Sharma 2/51

Assam win by 5 wickets.