Mumbai: Assam ended Kerala's dream run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy national T20 championship here on Friday. Assam emerged victors by two wickets in a low-scoring thriller as they overhauled the target of 128 with three balls to spare.
Riyan Parag led from the front with a match-winning unbeaten 57 off 33 balls. His knock was studded with a four and six sixes.
Kerala, who won all six of their previous Group B games, had already sealed a place in the quarterfinals with 24 points. Assam finished second with 20 points.
Earlier, Kerala scored 127/6, thanks mainly to an unbeaten 64-run stand between Abdul Bazith and Sachin Baby for the seventh wicket. The two came together with Kerala reeling at 63/6 in the 13th over after being put in to bat.
Bazith slammed an unbeaten 46 off 31 balls, with the help of two fours and four sixes. Sachin chipped in with 18 not out off 17 balls.
Rohan Kunnummal, who scored 31, was the other Kerala batter to enter double digits.
Captain Sanju Samson made eight, while Vishnu Vinod fell for five.
The knockout stage begins at Mohali on Tuesday.
Brief scores: Kerala 127/6 in 20 overs (Abdul Bazith 46 not out, Rohan Kunnummal 31; Avinav Choudhury 2/21) lost to Assam 130/8 in 19.3 overs (Riyan Parag 57 not out; Jalaj Saxena 2/9).
Points: Assam 4; Kerala 0.
