Shillong, Dec 13: Meghalaya began their first Ranji Trophy match of the season today, facing fellow North East side Mizoram in Nadiad, Gujarat, in the Plate Group.
Choosing to field first after winning the toss, Meghalaya dismissed Mizoram for 252 and then had to face one uncomfortable over before stumps, which ended as a maiden.
Meghalaya’s start with the ball was brilliant, with Mizoram reduced to 8/3 in 4 overs thanks to the quicks, Akash K Choudhary (2/40) and Abhishek Kumar (2/37); the latter struck in only his second over of his debut first class match.
However, Meghalaya then ran into a bit of a roadblock in the form of Mizoram’s guest professionals Taruwar Kohli and Shreevats Goswami. The latter was trapped lbw for 74 by one of Meghalaya’s own guest professionals, Rajesh Bishnoi, but Kohli went on to make 123 before he was dismissed by Swarajeet Das (1/22) towards the end of the innings.
Together, the Mizoram pair put on 138 for the fourth wicket but otherwise Meghalaya had little problem, getting five opposition batters out for ducks.
Bishnoi added the wickets of three tailenders to finish with Meghalaya’s best figures of 4/62. Dippu Ch Sangma (1/40) was the other Meghalaya bowler to taste success today.
Mizoram batted for 86.1 overs, leaving just six deliveries for Meghalaya to endure before the end of play. Raj Biswa faced the entire over, which was a maiden, with Kishan Lyngdoh at the other end. The pair will look to begin the Meghalaya innings in earnest tomorrow morning.