Riyan Parag smashed a superb 116-ball 174 to help Assam chase down a mammoth target of 351 in 46.1 overs against Jammu & Kashmir in their Vijay Hazare quarterfinal here on Monday.
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Parag struck 12 sixes and a dozen fours as Assam won the match by seven wickets.
Replying to J&K’s 350 that was built on tons by Henan Nazir 124 (113 balls, 5 fours, 5 sixes) and Shubham Khajuria 120 (84 balls, 8 fours, 8 sixes), Assam slipped to 45 for two before Parag and Rishav Das (114 off 118 balls) got into the act.
The 21-year old Parag was in a belligerent mood and waded into the rival bowling while hitting . He kept finding the ropes and did not hesitate to go over the field.
The right-handed batter’s huge 277-run partnership with Das left the J&K bowlers, who had been impressive through the tournament, clueless.
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It was Parag’s third century in the ongoing Hazare Trophy and made a daunting task look easy for Assam.
Parag fell 29 runs short of the target but Das, who played second fiddle, saw Assam home with 23 balls to spare.
Sent into bat, J&K got off to a bright start with openers Khajuria and Vivrant Sharma (34) putting on 74 in 11.4 overs. After Sharma fell, Khajuria and Nazir put on 129 runs for the second wicket.
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Khajuria’s dismissal to Avinov Choudhury (2/47) sparked a mini collapse but Nazir and Fazil Rashid (53, 46 balls, 3 fours, 2 sixes) added 113 for the fifth wicket.
Brief scores: J&K 350 for 7 in 50 overs (Henan Nazir 124, Shubham Khajuria 120, Fazil Rashid 53) lost to Assam 354 for 3 in 46.1 overs (Riyan Parag 174, Rishav Das 114 not out) by seven wickets.
