Asom defeats Orissa by five wickets

Cuttack, Feb 11 (UNI) Powered by a smashing 154 of just 147 balls by captain J Arun Kumar, Asom defeated hosts Orissa by five wickets in the One Day Ranji Trophy Tournament(East Zone) at the Barbati Stadium here today.

Captain Arun Kumar and Zufari Zakaria pulled up a standing win for their team which had lost four wickets for 36 runs.Set to score a modest 253 in their allotted 50 overs,Asom began disastrously losing three wickets for just 5 runs.

Opener Jason Camare and Tajinder Singh failed to open their accounts as Debashis Mohanty, former test spinner, struck early bows.

Arun Kumar walked in to steal the thunder and was ably supported by Zufari Zakaria who score 54 not out. Arun Kumar's brilliant knock had 20 hits to the fence.

Earlier, putting to bat by the visiting team hosts Orissa, reached 253 in their 50 overs largely due to Niranjan Behera who scored 90 of 121 balls and 56 by Subit Biswal P Jayachandra was unbeaten on 47.

The orissa batsmen however, could not post a big total despite having lost only four wickets in their allotted overs. For Asom Dhiraj Goswami took two wickets for 31 runs.

Brief scoreboard: Orissa 253 for 4 in 50 overs (Niranjan Behera 90,Subit Biswal,56, Dhiraj Goswami 2 for 31 runs).

Asom 257 for 5 in 49 0vers (J Arun Kumar 154 not out, Zuffari Zakaria 54 not out, Debashis Mohanty 2 for 43 ) UNI