Riyan Parag starred as Assam defeated Madhya Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 match on Saturday in Gujarat.
Playing a match-winning knock of 75 runs off 41 balls, Parag guided the Assam team to a five-wicket victory over superior rivals and Ranji champions Madhya Pradesh.
Madhya Pradesh won the toss and selected to bat first in the match that was played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Gujarat's Rajkot.
Coming in to bat, Madhya Pradesh got of the to the worst possible start with opener Chanchal Rathore sent home on the first ball. However, they recovered well with stellar innings each from Shubham Sharma, Rajat Patidar and Ashwin Das.
While Sharma scored 56 runs off 45 balls, Patidar scored 52 off 32 and Das put together 68 off 30 to propell the Madhya Pradesh innings to a good total of 192 in their 20 overs.
For Assam, Rajakuddin Ahmed and Roshan Alam nicked a wicket each, while Mukhtar Hussain got two wickets.
Coming in to bat, Assam needed 193 runs for the victory, a tough ask that was tackled head on. After a shaky start with opener Nihar Narah sent home having scored 12 runs off 9 balls, fellow opener Rahul Hazarika steadied the ship a little with a 39 run stand off 31 balls.
However, Assam then lost the wicket of Wasiqur Rahman cheaply, who went without scoring with Assam reeling at 37 for the loss of two wickets. At the other end, Hazarika stood strong and alongside talisman Riyan Parag, took the total to 92 before being dismissed.
From there on, it was a treat for the fans with Parag scoring seven 4s and four 6s to take the team total to 177 before departing for 75 off 41 deliveries.
Alongside Nipan Deka, who scored 42 off 26, Parag drove the team to the finish line, with Assam ending up winning the encounter with five balls to spare.
