After Bengal, Jhakhand reach main round

Kolkata: Jharkhand became the second team after Bengal to make the main round of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament on net run-rate following their mammoth eight- wicket win over Assam in the East Zone league at the Jadavpur University second campus ground in Saltlake today.

Ishan Kishan struck a delightful 35-ball 48 (6x4), while skipper Saurabh Tiwary was back among runs with a 21-ball 36 not out with two fours and two sixes as Jharkhand cruised to the 128-run target with 22 balls to spare. Jharkhand, Assam and Odisha finished with eight points each but today`s big win meant the Tiwary-led side finished with an NRR of +0.253 to edge out the other two East Zone sides. Earlier, left-armer Sarfaraj Ashraf, who returned with a career best five-wicket haul against Odisha yesterday, once again became the wrecker-in-chief as his 3/22 restricted Assam to 127/8 in 20 overs after they chose to bat on a batting paradise. But Assam batters struggled for a partnership losing wickets in regular intervals before Ashraf came to terrorise the middle order. Jharkhand were sharp in the field as well executing two run-outs before their batsmen cantered home without breaking sweat. Ishan laid the foundation only to miss a half-century by two runs before Tiwary and Virat Singh (25 not out) steered the side home with ease. Brief Scores Assam 127/8; 20 overs (Parvez Aziz 24, Rishav Das 20; Sarfaraz Ashraf 3/22) lost to Jharkhand 128/2; 15.2 overs (Ishan Kishan 48, Saurabh Tiwary 36 not out, Virat Singh 25 not out) by eight wickets.