Hyderabad: Skipper Tanmay Agarwal remained unbeaten on 123 and saw his partners depart at the other end as they need another 22 runs for victory.
But the tricky part is, there is only one wicket in hand as the Group B Ranji Trophy match is poised for a thrilling finish in the fourth day at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, at Uppal on Thursday.
Tanmay’s ton includes 12 boundaries and a maximum while K Rohit Rayudu (20) chipped in to add 46 runs for the opening wicket before Riyan Parag dismissed the latter in the 16th over. In the very next over M Samhith Reddy (0) was out for Siddharth Sarmah.
Earlier, Assam resumed the day at 182/6as the overnight batter Sarupam Purkayastha (22) and Akash Sengupta (31) added 19-run partnership for the seventh wicket. In the third over of the day Karthikeya Kak got rid of Purkayastha for his overnight score.
However, Akash and Siddharth Sarmah (36) put Assam on track by adding a 68-run partnership for the eighth wicket. T Ravi Teja, who took five wickets for Hyderabad, sent Akash and Mukhtar Hussain (2) to the pavilion.
In the 76th over, Ravi Teja sent Sunil Lachit to end Assam innings for 252 in 75.2 overs. Ravi Teja scalped nine wickets in the match (4/53 and 5/50 in first and second innings).
Later in the Hyderabad second innings, Bhavesh Seth (41 off 66-ball) and Tanmay added 74-run partnership for the third wicket. Rahul Buddhi slammed 24-ball 28, laced with three sixes and added another 50-runs with Tanmay for the fourth wicket to take their side past 150-run mark.
The middle order came a cropper as Mickil Jaiswal (1), T Ravi Teja (1) and Tanay Thyagarajan (0) departed cheaply.
However, skipper Tanmay and Ajay Dev Goud (9) managed a 59-ball 42-run partnership for the eight wicket. At stumps, Hyderabad were 228/9 in 61 overs, Tanmay (123 batting) and Kartikeya Kak (1 batting) at the crease.