Shillong, Mar 1: The Meghalaya team beat Puducherry by one wicket in an exciting and low-scoring chase of the U-19 Women’s One Day League in Dehradun today.
Meghalaya won the toss and chose to field and dismissed Puducherry for 101 in 38 overs, thanks to a brace of wickets by Dasanbaniewkor Wahlang (2/13) and Rubi Chetri (2/21). Thymmei Lyngdoh (1/17) and Neha Hajong (1/6) were the other wicket takers.
Batting wasn’t easy for Meghalaya, but Sanchisa made a valuable 22 in the middle order, backed up by a patient 15 by Chetri. Puducherry were also more reckless in giving away extras, conceding 42 compared to Meghalaya’s 12.
However, the chase was still tight, with Meghalaya going from 81/5 to 86/8 before coming through by a solitary wicket.
In recent days Meghalaya had their match against Manipur abandoned, while they lost to Sikkim by 24 runs.
Today’s game was Meghalaya’s third win, after earlier defeating Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. They end their participation in the plate group in fifth position.
Meanwhile, in today’s Senior Women’s T20 League, Meghalaya were defeated by 127 runs at the hands of Tamil Nadu in Group A in Mumbai.
In their last match Meghalaya were made to bowl first by Tamil Nadu, who won the toss. TN made 172/2 in their 20 overs, to which Meghalaya responded with 45 all out.
Meghalaya finished in sixth position with one win, which came against bottom side Manipur.
That match was played out on Wednesday, when Meghalaya made 109/6 to which Manipur could only make 64 all out. Debasmita Dutta top-scored with 59, while Daiaka Warjri made 19 not out. In the chase Pinky Chanda was Meghalaya’s most successful bowler, with figures of 3/17.
This win followed defeats to Mumbai (by 79 runs) and Delhi (101 runs).
There hasn’t been good news for Meghalaya in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (senior men’s T20), with the state unable so far to pick up a win in five games of the plate group.
In our last roundup Meghalaya fell short by just 13 runs to Gujarat. Since then they’ve been defeated by Himachal Pradesh by 65 runs, Rajasthan by 72 runs, Vidharba by 32 runs and Bihar by one wicket. Gurinder Singh has been the most consistent batsman for Meghalaya, making one half-century and plenty of other handy contributions in these matches.
Meghalaya will take on Tamil Nadu tomorrow in Surat, Gujarat.
Finally, in the U-23 Men’s One Day League, Meghalaya are also without a win as yet in the plate group. Since our last report they’ve lost to Uttarakhand by eight wickets and to Sikkim by 66 runs.
Meghalaya will be up against Manipur tomorrow in Bhubaneshwar.
