History was made on Sunday (October 26) in Tinsukia as Services and Assam completed the shortest match in Ranji Trophy history. The whole match lasted just 90 overs with the bowlers having a field day. That the match went into the second day was only due to weather interruptions on the opening day.
Service prevailed this lottery low-scoring game as they beat Assam by eight wickets to make it two wins out of two in the season. The second day started with Assam at 56/6 but they were quickly rolled over for 75 with Arjun Sharma (4-20) and Amit Shukla (3-6) slicing through the batting line-up. The former ended with a nine-wicket match haul after his fifer in the first innings.
With just 71 to get, Services batters got there inside 14 overs for the loss of just two wickets. Assam skipper Riyan Parag picked up both the wickets to fall but his side simply had no runs to play with. Parag was the only batter to get to double figures in both innings but most batters across both sides failed to get going on a tricky pitch.
Parag's 36 along with Parvej Musaraf's 52 were the major contributions for Assam in their first innings but they still only got to 103, which tells you how shambolic the other batters were. Arjun (5-46) was on fire, as was Mohit Jangra (3-5) as Assam lasted just 17.2 overs with the bat.
In reply, Services lasted a bit longer but still were shot out inside 30 overs. Parag picked up a fifer (5-25) to keep his side in the hunt and had support from Rahul Singh (4-44) as Services could only manage a five-run lead. For the visitors, Irfan Ali's 51* was the lone bright spot in a forgettable batting performance.
Assam batted a lot more overs in their second innings, 12.1 overs extra to be precise, but ended up scoring 28 runs lesser as Arjun once again decimated their batters, this time with support from Shukla. With Services finishing the chase off in a hurry, the entire game ended in just 90 overs.
Brief scores: Assam (103 and 75) lost to Services (108 and 73/2) by eight wickets