Riding on their team's good bowling show, Assam outplayed table-toppers Delhi by 5 wickets in a low-scoring Group A encounter to notch up their third win of the Ranji Trophy cricket season here on Thursday.
Chasing 165 for a win, Assam, who started the fourth and final day on 70 for three, achieved their target in the second session with man-of-the-match Arun Karthik unconquered on 55. Delhi slumped to their first loss of teh season.
The victory though was set up by their bowlers, who bundled the visitors for 149 after putting the Gautam Gambhir-led side into bat.
New-ball bowlers Krishna Das (4-38) and Arup Das (3/49) shared seven wickets each to rattle the Delhi top-order.
The Gokul Sharma-led Assam then took a slender lead after posting 157 in their first innings.
Delhi bowlers Manan Sharma (4-41) and Pradeep Sangwan (3-33) made it count at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium.
But Delhi's second batting outing was also a short affair after the Assam bowlers once again made life difficult for the visiting batsmen, who could only muster 172.
Even though Unmukt Chand scored a gutsy 44 in the second innings, Gambhir, who managed 4 and 0 in the first and second innings respectively, failed to lead by example.
left-arm spinner Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad and leg-spinner Amit Verma bagged three wickets each, while Krishna and Gokul picked two apiece. The Delhi bowlers once again tried to make a match in the final innings but the fourth-wicket 83-run partnership between Karthik and Rahul Hazarika (59) helped the hosts bag six points.
Elsewhere
Delhi: 149 & 172 lose to Assam: 157 & 168/5 (56 ov, target 165) by 5 wickets; Gujarat: 311 & 202/9d beat MP: 200 & 160 by 153 runs; Odisha: 529/6d drew with Hry: 216 & 250/4; Bengal: 528/8d & 100/1 (33 ov) drew with Maha: 406; HP: 551 drew with Saurashtra: 437; Railways: 217 & 408/4d lose to Mumbai: 331 & 295/4 by 6 wickets; Services: 353 & 217/7d drew with Hyderabad: 272 & 140/3; UP: 348 & 273/5d drew with TN: 231 & 212/4; Tripura: 166 & 161 lose to Jharkhand: 394/4d Jharkhand won by an innings and 67 runs; Rajasthan: 216 & 226 lose to Vidarbha: 247 & 199/2 by 8 wickets.