GUWAHATI: Rishav Das and Gokul Sharma wore out an inexperienced Delhi attack with patient hundreds as Assam required five runs to get the all-important first innings lead but only have two wickets in hand going into the final day of the Ranji Trophy group B match.
Delhi had scored 439 in their first innings, riding on opener Dhruv Shorey's unbeaten 252 while Assam ended day three at 435 for 8, needing five more runs to get three points from the game.
Rishav (160, 229 balls) and veteran Gokul (140, 299 balls) added 256 runs for the fifth wicket to put Assam in a commanding position before they lost a flurry of wickets only to recover towards the end, courtesy a 57-run unbroken ninth wicket stand between Mukhtar Hussain (40 batting) and Sidharth Sarmah (16 batting).
On Friday morning, Assam looked favourites to get those remaining five runs.
For Delhi, it was the inexperienced bowling attack that brought about their downfall. Debutant medium pacers Harshit Rana (3/86 in 30 overs) and Pranshu Vijayran (3/82 in 24 overs) bowled their hearts out but Rishav and Gokul flayed them for nearly 70 overs.
Rishav's innings had 21 fours and a six while Gokul hit 20 boundaries.
The failure of Delhi to wrap up the innings at 378 for 8 when Mukhtar and Sarmah joined forces should be attributed to the more experienced pair of Simarjeet Singh (1/96 in 22 overs) and left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra (1/40 in 21 overs).
Mishra's inability to pick wickets and just bowl restrictive lines hurt Delhi while another debutant Hrithik Shokeen (0/75 in 19 overs) was ordinary in his first red ball outing.
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