Orissa are East Zone champions

Orissa capped a memorable campaign by defeating Assam by nine wickets to finish on top in the East Zone Ranji Trophy table on Saturday. On the penultimate day of the four day match at the Tinsuria District Sports Association stadium in Assam, Orissa after gaining a first innings lead of 174 runs, dismissed Assam for 188 in their second knock. They then scored the required 18 runs for the loss of one wicket and the eight points they garnered from this match saw them end with 29 points from their four games. They won three games - including a victory over Bengal for the first time in 43 years - and took first innings points in the other.

In the morning, Orissa with Gautam Gopal finishing on 85 not out, stretched their first innings lead. Gopal faced 77 balls and hit 12 fours and three sixes. Ganesh Kumar picked up two of the three wickets to fall on Saturday and finished with five for 67.

In the Assam second innings, Debasish Mohanty was again in splendid form and took five wickets for 39 runs. Assam failed to capitalise on a good start. First openers Parag Das (45) and Subhrajit Saikia (13) put on 59 runs off 17.5 overs. Then Zakaria Zuffri (46) and Subhadeep Ghose (36) added 64 runs for the third wicket off 22.4 overs. Assam at one stage were 126 for two but Mohanty got going and the remaining batsmen offered little resistance. He was supported by Sanjay Roul (3 for 48) while Jaganath Das (2 for 21) removed both the opening batsmen. Orissa reached their token target in only three overs.