Guwahati: Hosts and defending champions Assam’s last hope of staying afloat in the national one-dayers East Zone meet were dashed on Monday after going down by three wickets to Jharkhand at the NF Railway Stadium.

This was Assam’s third loss in a row and they have only one match left, against Tripura on Wednesday.

Electing to bat, Assam sustained early blows as Jharkhand pacemen S.S. Rao and P.K. Singh scalped three quick wickets with the scoreboard on 35 after 11.5 overs.

Tripura, who have managed four points in their kitty, still have a remote chance of making it to the knockout rounds if they can beat Assam with a bonus point in the last match and Jharkhand go down to Bengal.

Jharkhand have so far tallied nine points which include a bonus point earned against Orissa on Saturday.

BRIEF SCORES

Assam 161; 48.3 ovrs (S. Sharath 54; S. Khan 3/30, S.S. Rao 3/31). Jharkhand 162/7; 48 ovrs (I. Jaggi 58). Jharkhand won by 3 wkts.