Shillong, Nov 21: Meghalaya moved into a commanding position on the second day of the Ranji Trophy plate group match against Nagaland here today by enforcing the follow-on as they look to win the match by an innings with two days to go.
Resuming on 338/5, Meghalaya added another 51 runs before they were bowled out for 389, their highest score in the competition.
Armed with the ball, Meghalaya’s fast bowler Lakhan Singh and guest/professional spinner Gurinder Singh then took six wickets between them to leave Nagaland on 90/6 at tea.
The introduction of Aditya Singhania after the break then did wonders as the spinner bagged three lower order wickets, while Gurinder claimed the last – bowling Jalal for 1 – with Nagaland all out in their first innings for 106. Gurinder finished with figures of 4/37, while Singhania claimed 3/12 and Lakhan 3/23.
With the visitors still trailing by 283 Meghalaya captain Jason Lamare had no hesitation in enforcing the follow-on, but this time around Nagaland’s openers – Nitesh (14) and Sedezhalie (17) – showed greater resistance and remained unbeaten when play was called off due to bad light.
Nagaland will thus resume their second innings tomorrow on 31/0, 252 runs behind, still a long way from making the hosts bat again.
(Photo of Meghalaya’s Aditya Singhania bowling contributed by the Meghalaya Cricket Association)
