da bet7： A gallant all round display by M Diwakar proved to be in vain as Bihar went downby five wickets to Assam in the East Zone Ranji Trophy one day match at the EdenGardens on Sunday
Partab Ramchand10-Dec-2000A gallant all round display by M Diwakar proved to be in vain as Bihar went downby five wickets to Assam in the East Zone Ranji Trophy one day match at the EdenGardens on Sunday.Put in to bat, Bihar were shot out for 134 in 45.3 overs. Opening bowler JZaman, who did most of the early damage and then cleaned up the tail, finishedwith four for 15 off 7.3 overs. Bihar never really recovered from a bad start(23 for three) and only modest contributions from skipper Rajiv Kumar (22),Manish Kumar (23), K Sharan (21) and Diwakar (30) saw them limp to theirinadequate total. Diwakar came in at No 8 and shared the best partnership of theinnings – 35 for the seventh wicket with Sharan.When Assam started their seemingly easy task, Diwakar, opening the bowling, hadthem in trouble by dismissing the first four batsmen with only 17 runs on theboard. Skipper SZ Zuffri and S Ghosh (34) rescued Assam with a fifth wicketpartnership of 56 runs off nine overs. This was followed by an unbroken sixthwicket stand of 67 runs between Zuffri and R Borah which steered Assam home with19 overs to spare. While Zuffri faced 78 balls for his unbeaten 39, hitting fivefours, the much more aggressive Borah slammed 38 not out off 47 balls with thehelp of two sixes and two fours. Ghosh too had wasted little time, hammering hisruns off 31 deliveries and hitting seven fours. Diwakar finished with four for33 off ten overs.