Shillong, Feb 15: Meghalaya recorded another brilliant, if nail-biting, victory in the U-23 Women’s One-Day Trophy, this time by defeating Manipur by two wickets and with 10 deliveries to spare in Cuttack today.
Chasing Manipur’s 200/4, Meghalaya made 202/8 in 48.2 overs. This follows on from their one-wicket win over Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday.
Today Manipur won the toss and chose to bat first and, despite a couple of early wickets from Ajima Sangma, they were able to post 200 on the board thanks to half-centuries from L Rajkumar (79 not out) and Kalpana (69). Sangma claimed one more wicket to finish with figures of 3/35, while Solina Jaba bagged a wicket in her last over, removing the dangerous Kalpana caught behind by wicketkeeper Avril Syiem.
Meghalaya lost three wickets early on in the chase, but a fine 74 off 71 deliveries by Luiza Tamang (nine fours, one six) upped Meghalaya’s run rate and rescued them from the doldrums. There were contributions right down the order, with Shruti Kumari making 20, Razia Ahmed 28, Sangma 13 and Jaba with 24 not out off 20 balls, which took Meghalaya over the line just in time.
Meanwhile, Meghalaya require another 22 runs with five wickets in hand to beat Arunachal Pradesh in their U-23 Col CK Nayudu Trophy match in Mangaldai, Assam.
Resuming on 92/4 at stumps in their first innings in response to Arunachal’s 153, Meghalaya were all out for just 118, conceding a first innings lead of 35 to their opponents.
However, Anish Charak turned in a brilliant bowling performance, claiming 5/24 to bowl out Arunachal for just 94 in their second innings. Adarsh Joshi took 3/7 while Akash Kumar Choudhary took 2/24.
Needing 130 to win, Kishan Lyngdoh led the way with 73 off 74 deliveries at the top of the order and at stumps Meghalaya were 108/5 with Roshan Warbah (13 not out) and Joshi (10 not out) at the crease.
(Meghalaya Cricket Association file photo of the women’s team)
