Shillong, Jan 5: Meghalaya’s Ranji Trophy team went down to Puducherry by five wickets in an extremely low-scoring contest in Mangaldai, Assam, today.
The match, which began on Friday, had its fair share of bad weather and neither team was able to reach 100 in any of their innings.
Puducherry won the toss and opted to field first and they were immediately successful in bundling out Meghalaya for 65. Guest-professional Punit Bisht top-scored with 43, which was nearly two-thirds of Meghalaya’s total runs. He was the only player to get into double figures.
Meghalaya, though, were almost equally successful as their opponents with the ball, dismissing the visitors for 80. Guest-professional Sanjay Yadav returned figures of 8/31, while Abhay Negi (1/9) and Aditya Singhania (1/19) chipped in with one apiece.
Trailing by 15 runs, Meghalaya couldn’t make their seconds innings count either and they were all out for 63, presenting Puducherry with a target of 49 to win, which they accomplished today for the loss of five wickets. Negi took 3/15 and Yadav 2/31.
Meanwhile, in the U-23 Col CK Nayudu Trophy, Meghalaya posted a healthy 287/6 in 92 overs on the first day against Mizoram in Vizag.
Meghalaya won the toss and chose to bat, with Yogesh Tiwari topping with an innings of 82. Rohit Shah (72), Kishan (47) and Bonkam Marak (44) were some of the other top contributors of runs.
Finally, in the U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy, Meghalaya were 34 without loss at stumps on the second day, chasing Bihar’s first innings score of 258 all out in Tezpur.
Meghalaya put Bihar in to bat first after winning the toss yesterday in another match affected by rain. Divyansh Rajput scalped 4/34, while there was a brace each for Aaron Nongrum (2/29), Aryan Borah (2/34) and Abhishek Kumar (2/61).
Mrinal Das (17 not out) and Nishanta Chakraborty (12 not out) then saw off the remaining 15 overs in the day without losing a wicket.
