Syed Mushtaq Ali T20: Amit Verma’s all-round performance steers Assam to victory

Verma (3 for 17) chipped in with 3 wickets to restrict Jharkhand to 133 for 9 in their allotted 20 overs before scoring an unbeaten half-century to help Assam.

Riding on Amit Verma’s all-round performance, Assam got the better of Jharkhand by four wickets in the Syed Mushtaq Ali East Zone Twenty20 (T20) match here at the Eden Gardens. Verma (3 for 17) chipped in with 3 wickets to restrict Jharkhand to 133 for 9 in their allotted 20 overs before scoring an unbeaten half-century to help Assam reach 137 for 6 in 18.3 overs. Put in to bat, Jharkhand got off to a good start but Abu Nechim (3 for 24) took two wickets in two overs to leave them reeling at 73 for 4. Verma then accounted for the next four wickets — three with his legspin, besides effecting a run out. For Jharkhand, Virat Singh top scored with 26 runs.

Chasing a modest target of 134, Assam struggled as Jharkhand’s fast bowling combination of Varun Aaron and Rahul Shukla shared four wickets between them, while Shahbaz Nadeem and Kaushal Singh took wicket apiece. However, Verma played a responsible knock, hitting an unbeaten 55 off 41 deliveries studded with three boundaries and four sixes to seal the victory for Assam with more than an over to spare.

Brief scores:

Jharkhand: 133 for 9 in 20 overs (Virat Singh 26; Amit Verma 3 for 17, Abu Nechim 3 for 24).

Assam: 137 for 6 in 18.3 overs (Amit Verma 55*, Sibsankar Roy 34; Rahul Shukla 2 for 30, Varun Aaron 2 for 39).

Meanwhile, in another East Zone match, Odisha defeated Tripura by 10 runs.

Brief scores:

Odisha: 131 for 6 in 20 overs (Aravind Singh 23*; Abhijit Sarkar 3 for 22).

Tripura: 121 for 8 in 20 overs (Gurinder Singh 28*; Dhiraj Singh 3 for 18).

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