Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022: Swarupam Purkayastha, Sibsankar Roy help Maharashtra beat Assam by 12 runs to storm into final

Fighting knocks from Swarupam Purkayastha (95), Sibsankar Roy (78) and Rishav Das (53) went in vain as Maharashtra overcame Assam by 12 runs in Ahmedabad to book a spot in the final. Rajvardhan Hangargekar had an impressive spell, finishing with 4 for 65. Riding on Ruturaj Gaikwad's 168 and Ankit Bawne's 110, Maharashtra posted a formidable 350/7 in 50 overs. In reply, Assam threatened to chase it down, but they faltered in the end and were eventually restricted to 338/8.

Put into bat, Maharashtra lost the wicket of Rahul Tripathi early but Gaikwad and Satyajeet Bachhav stitched a useful partnership to build a steady platform. Following Bachhav's dismissal, Gaikwad joined hands with Bawne to put on a 207-run stand for the third wicket. The 25-year-old Gaikwad, who registered his third century in four innings, eventually got out in the 45th over. Bawne then scored his hundred to set up Maharashtra's strong total.

In reply, Rishav Das's half-century led Assam's run-chase despite Maharashtra bagging regular wickets. But his wicket in the 16th over left Assam at 103/4 and with rebuilding to do. Thereafter, Roy and Purkayastha put on a 133 run stand for the fifth wicket to get Assam back in the game but they were derailed again by quick wickets. Purkayastha was the key for Assam but he was dismissed soon after the team crossed 300 in the 45th over. The lower order couldn't do much after that as Assam ended up short to suffer a heart-breaking exit.

Brief scores: Maharashtra 350/7 (Ruturaj Gaikwad 168, Ankit Bawne 110; Mukhtar Hussain 3-42) beat Assam 338/8 in 50 overs (Swarupam Purkayastha 95, Sibsankar Roy 78; Rajvardhan Hangargekar 4-65) by 12 runs.