Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015-16: Assam remain winless as Services pull off 4-wicket victory

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015-16: Assam remain winless as Services pull off 4-wicket victory

Secunderabad: Diwesh Gurdev Pathania and Amit Pachhara shone with the ball and bat respectively before Rajat Paliwal’s breezy half century as Services posted an easy six-wicket win over Assam on Thursday. Electing to bat in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015-16 Group A match at the Railways Recreation Club Ground in Secunderabad, Assam scored 261 for eight in the stipulated 50 overs, and then saw the opposition chase down the target of 262 with almost five overs to spare. Amit top-scored for the winning team with an 88-ball 75, while opener Soumik Chatterjee made 73 off 91 balls. Rajat Paliwal smashed brisk 52 off only 37 deliveries as Services romped home easily. He struck six boundaries and a six. UPDATES: Assam vs Services, Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015-16 Group A match at Secunderabad

In the bowling department, Pathania returned figures of 5 for 54 to restrict Assam. For Assam, Amit Verma was the highest scorer with 78 off 99 balls, sharing a 100-run partnership with Sibsankar Roy (45 off 77 balls) for the third wicket to rescue Assam from a couple of early blows. Verma hit six fours during his 99-ball innings.

Services were coasting for the most part during their run-chase, with skipper Chatterjee and Verma sharing  68-run first-wicket stand before Pachhara further consolidated the innings. As a result of this defeat, Assam crash out of the tournament with six straight losses to their credit, in stark contrast to their successes in the Ranji Trophy 2015-16 in which they have qualified for the knock out phase after finishing third in Group A.

Brief scores:

Assam 261 for 8 in 50 overs (Sibsankar Roy 45, Amit Verma 78; Diwesh Pathania 5 for 54) lost to Services 262 for 4 in 45.2 overs (Soumik Chatterjee 73, Nakul Verma 30, Amit Pachhara 75, Rajat Paliwal 52; Jogeswar Bhumij) by 6 wickets.