da blaze casino： Orissa capped a memorable campaign by defeating Assam by nine wicketsto finish on top in the East Zone Ranji Trophy table on Saturday
Staff Reporter06-Jan-2001Orissa capped a memorable campaign by defeating Assam by nine wicketsto finish on top in the East Zone Ranji Trophy table on Saturday. Onthe penultimate day of the four day match at the Tinsuria DistrictSports Association stadium in Assam, Orissa after gaining a firstinnings lead of 174 runs, dismissed Assam for 188 in their secondknock. They then scored the required 18 runs for the loss of onewicket and the eight points they garnered from this match saw them endwith 29 points from their four games. They won three games – includinga victory over Bengal for the first time in 43 years – and took firstinnings 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 12fours and three sixes. Ganesh Kumar picked up two of the three wicketsto fall on Saturday and finished with five for 67.In the Assam second innings, Debasish Mohanty was again in splendidform and took five wickets for 39 runs. Assam failed to capitalise ona good start. First openers Parag Das (45) and Subhrajit Saikia (13)put on 59 runs off 17.5 overs. Then Zakaria Zuffri (46) and SubhadeepGhose (36) added 64 runs for the third wicket off 22.4 overs. Assam atone stage were 126 for two but Mohanty got going and the remainingbatsmen offered little resistance. He was supported by Sanjay Roul (3for 48) while Jaganath Das (2 for 21) removed both the openingbatsmen. Orissa reached their token target in only three overs.