Assam need 95 more runs to register their third consecutive win after the hosts reached 70 for three in their pursuit of 165-run target set by Delhi at stumps on the third and penultimate day of their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match, here on Tuesday.
After drawing with defending champions Karnataka, Assam beat former back-to-back winners Rajasthan by an innings, and then toppled Haryana at home in lahli and are now on the cusp of beating Delhi.
Assam still have seven wickets in hand to overwhelm Delhi's target with opener Rahul Hazarika batting on 30 in the company of AB Arun Karthik (13 not out), who made vital 81 in the hosts' first innings.
But all the credit must go to Assam bowlers, who after wrapping Delhi for 149 in the first innings, bundled out the visitors for another below-par 172 in second essay.
Resuming at the overnight score of 101 for four, Delhi last seven wickets contributed just 71 runs with spin duo of Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad (3/49) and Amit Verma (3/42) inflicting bulk of the damage.
Paceman Krishna Das (2/32) and skipper Gokul Sharma (2/17) also chipped in with wickets to help their side's cause.
Overnight batsmen Pulkit Narang (26 not out) and Milind Kumar (20) got starts but apart from them Delhi's middle and lower order struggled against the spin duo of Syed Mohammad and Verma.
In their quest for 165 runs, Assam lost opener Pallav Kumar Das, Swarupam Purkyastha and Verma but Hazarika and Arun Karthik are holding the fort for hosts.
Baroda thrash Punjab
vadodara: Baroda inflicted a massive innings and 116 runs defeat on Punjab on the back of an impressive pace-bowling performance on the third day of their Ranji Trophy cricket match here.
The home side bowlers, led by India discards Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel, took 17 Punjab wickets after the visiting side were asked to follow on to wrap up the match with one day remaining at the Moti Bagh Stadium.
The pressure was piling on Punjab after they resumed the day on 112 for 3 in reply to Baroda first innings total of 475 and the visiting side made a mess of their batting to be all out for 212 to concede a 263-run lead.
Irfan added another wicket to his overnight two while Munaf got two more today. Another pacer Hardik Pandya, who also had scored 59 in Baroda first innings, grabbed three wickets for all-round show.
For Punjab, only Uday Kaul (58) could score a half century while another India discard Yuvraj Singh was the second highest scorer for Punjab with a 116-ball 43. Captain Harbhajan Singh made seven.
Following on, Punjab did even worse in their second innings than their first essay, getting all out for 147 in just 38.4 overs to lose the match by a huge margin and hand Baroda a bonus point.
Kerala post huge win over goa
Porvorim: S Sandeep Warrier returned a rich match-haul of nine wickets to help Kerala post an innings and 83 runs win over Goa and earn a bonus point of their Ranji Trophy Group C match here.
Kerala earned seven points from victory and have taken their overall tally to 19 points from seven ties.
In reply to Kerala's massive first innings total of 441, Goa resumed at 81 for two and immediately lost both their batsmen.
Goa then kept losing wickets at regular intervals with Warrier wreaking havoc. He ended with figures of six for 44 as the hosts fell for 191, conceding 258-run first innings lead. Following on, Goa once again succumbed to medium pacer Warrior, who took three for 31 in the second innings. Goa finally were all out for 167 in the second essay with Warrier match figures of for 9/75.