Shillong, Dec 2: Meghalaya fell short of victory by an agonisingly close margin on the third day of the U-23 Col CK Nayudu Trophy plate group match against Manipur here today.
Manipur won the match by just nine runs after bowling out Meghalaya for 163 in the early afternoon. The hosts were chasing 173 for victory. Despite being defeated, this was the highest score of either team in the match; Manipur had made 126 and 148 in their two innings, while Meghalaya had been bowled out for 102 in their first.
Meghalaya started their chase today with an overnight total of 26/1, requiring another 147 for their first win of the tournament.
The hosts started proceedings badly with the loss of Pulkit Sansanwal for 3. A couple more quick wickets were also claimed by Manipur, including that of Ibitlang Thabah, who was the eventual top scorer for Meghalaya with an innings of 29.
A 39-run partnership for the fifth wicket then recovered things somewhat for Meghalaya, but arguably the best was the 48 runs put on for the seventh wicket by Rohit Thapa and captain Akash Kumar, which took the hosts to 144 before the former was dismissed, just 29 short of the target.
Kumar was also dismissed within the space of an over but Meghalaya continued to eke out a few runs, getting closer to the target all the time, which kept the result on a knife’s edge.
However, the visitors kept pegging away and just about managed to secure victory, bowling Meghalaya out for 163.
SENIOR WOMEN’S ONE DAY LEAGUE
Meanwhile, in their first match of the Senior Women’s One Day League, Meghalaya brushed aside Mizoram to win by 10 wickets in Cuttack.
The lopsided contest saw Mizoram bowled out for just 11 after winning the toss, with Meghalaya’s Vandana Mahajan taking eight wickets for four runs. Trisha Bera claimed 2/5.
Meghalaya’s openers then polished off the target to finish on 14/0 in 3 overs.
Meghalaya will be action against Nagaland tomorrow.
(Photo contributed by the Meghalaya Cricket Association)
