Assam's dream run in the Vijay Hazare Trophy continued as they stunned Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai by 27 runs to enter the semi-finals of the domestic ODI tournament in Visakhapatnam.
Chasing a paltry 179 for win, Mumbai, the last season's runners-up, were in for a shock as their batting line-up crumbled in front of a disciplined Assam attack to be bowled out for 151 in 46.5 overs in the low-scoring quarter-final.
The day, however, started on a bright note for Mumbai as they bundled out Assam for 178 in 47.4 overs after opting to ball at the Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.
Pace duo of Aavishkar Salvi (3/25) and Rajesh Verma (3/32) shared six wickets between them while left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah picked up two wickets to destabilise Assam's innings.
In-form Sibsankar Roy (69) and Gokul Sharma (51) scored half-centuries apiece to take Assam to close to the 180-run mark.
Salvi's opening burst had Assam tottering at 30 for three before Sibsankar and Gokul revived the innings with a 92-run fifth-wicket stand. Assam were in a decent position at 147 for four in the 40th over before their lower order crumbled like a pack of cards.
Mumbai's chase never got going as they lost wickets at the start to be reduced to 6 for 3, and then to 39 for 4 inside the first 10 overs.
Skipper Wasim Jaffer was bowled in the first over for five by his counterpart Abu Nechim Ahmed. Rohit Sharma followed suit in the same manner in the second over for a duck to Arup Das.
Shoaib Shaikh (42) and Ankeet Chavan (36) took Mumbai past the 100-run mark but after the former's dismissal to Gokul Sharma, Mumbai started to lose wickets at regular intervals to be eventually dismissed for 151.
Abu Nechim starred with the ball for Assam finishing with 3 for 31, while Pritam Das (2/24) accounted for the counter-attacking Siddhesh Lad and Chavan.
Brief Scores:
Assam: 178 all out in 47.4 overs (Sibsankar Roy 69, Gokul Sharma 51; Aavishkar Salvi 3/25, Rajesh Verma 3/32).
Mumbai: 151 all out in 46.5 overs (Shoaib Shaikh 42, Ankeet Chavan 36; Abu Nechim Ahmed 3/31, Pritam Das 2/24).
Bengal to meet Delhi in semis
The seam trio of Shami Ahmed, Veer Pratap Singh and Laxmi Shukla shared eight wickets among them as defending champions Bengal crushed Karnataka by 10 wickets to set up a semi-final clash against Delhi in the National One Day Championship for Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Electing to field after winning the toss in the third quarterfinal, Bengal skittled out Karnataka for a paltry 127 runs in 32.1 overs as Shami (3 for 32), Veer Pratap (3 for 40) and Shukla (2 for 20) ripped through their batting line-up at Port Trust Diamond Jubilee Stadium.
At one stage, Karnataka were 57 for six but Manish Pandey (28), Karun Nair (22) and skipper R Vinay Kumar (20) took the team to 127 before they were dismissed in the 33rd over.
The Bengal openers, Shreevats Goswami and Wriddhiman Saha, knocked off the target in 28.3 overs to register an emphatic victory. Goswami struck 10 fours and two sixes in his 79-ball 70 while Saha played an ably ally with 93-ball 52.
