Assam assured of knockout berth

Left-arm spinner Syed Mohammad's 5 for 27 set up a simple win for Assam, and kept them on top of the Group C table with 35 points.

Andhra had started the day on 116 for 6, but were bowled out for only 198, Naren Reddy was their lone source of resistance with 51 of 163 balls, his maiden first-class fifty.

With just 24 runs required for victory Assam reached the target in 13 overs without losing any wickets. Arun Karthik and Pallavkumar Das were unbeaten on 9 and 16 respectively.

Assam's Swarupam Purkayastha was adjudged the Man of the Match for his unbeaten 108 off 248 balls and six wickets in the match.

Jharkhand wrapped up their first win of the season in Porvorim and kept Goa winless. But the result did little help as both teams were knocked out.

Following on, Goa entered the final day at 161 for 5, needing nine runs to take the lead. But they folded for 223, eight more than their first-innings total. Suraj Dongre was the first to depart for 12, perishing to Shahbaz Nadeem. Keenan Vaz, the other overnight batsman, top-scored for Goa with 45 off 111 deliveries, ensuring that Jharkhand had to bat again. No.10 Sagar Naik made 19 off 18 deliveries, but Goa could only extend the lead to 53.

Legspinner Samar Quadri ended with figures of 5 for 82, extending his match tally to nine. Left-arm spinner Nadeem took three of the five Goa wickets to fall on the final day to end up with 4 for 60.

Jharkhand had the opportunity to pick up seven points, but were reduced to 4 for 2 with Virat Singh and Shiv Gautam getting bowled by seamer Sagar Naik inside five overs. However, Ishan Kishan and Kumar Deobrat added 51 in 14.4 overs to help Jharkhand to an eight-wicket win.

Himachal Pradesh allrounder Rishi Dhawan followed his career-best 7 for 43 with 4 for 92 as the visitors collected three points against Tripura in Agartala.

Tripura began at 20 for 0, but openers Bishal Ghosh and Samrat Singha fell in quick succession. Thirty-nine for 2 soon became 59 for 4 before Rajesh Banik and Kaushal Acharjee added 55 runs for the fifth wicket.

Offspinner Ankush Bedi broke the stand, but No.8 Manisankar Murasingh clubbed a rapid 47 in a 56-run eighth-wicket partnership with Saurabh Das and Rana Dutta made 28 off 30 deliveries to take Tripura towards 200. They were eventually bundled out for 239 as the game ended in a draw.

Man-of-the-Match Dhawan went to the top of the bowling charts with 39 wickets this season, while Vikramjeet Malik and Pankaj Jaiswal bagged two wickets apiece. Allrounder Bipul Sharma, who claimed the last wicket to fall, had figures of 13.1-4-11-1.

Himachal Pradesh are now placed second on the Group C table with 27 points, eight behind Assam. On the other hand, Tripura finish the season winless.

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