Orissa almost pulled off a fabulous victory over Assam in their East Zone Vijay Merchant Trophy match at Guwahati yesterday. After setting Assam a victory target of 167 in a minimum of 62 overs they had the home team gasping at 116-9 from 66 overs when stumps were drawn. R Mohanty who took 8-52 in the first innings followed it up with 5-52 in the second as he severely harried Assam. The last pair had to dodge their way through the last two overs in order to salvage Assam 5 points for leading on first innings. Earlier Orissa were all out for 204 after resuming at 107-2. Skipper SP Priyadarshan top scored with 77.

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