Shillong, Jan 22: Meghalaya were supreme in their U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy plate group match today, beating Sikkim by 194 runs at the MCA Cricket Ground here today.
The four-day game was wrapped up in just two, with 20 wickets falling on each day.
Meghalaya had made 192 in their first innings yesterday, to which Sikkim had responded with 109.
The hosts thus began their second innings today morning with a handy lead of 83 runs.
The Meghalaya top order struggled, but runs came from the middle order batsmen as they accorded themselves well with the bat. Raghav Kapur struck his second half-century of the match before being run out for 86; he had ended the first innings not out on 91.
Kapur put on 76 for the fifth wicket with Kush Agarwal (46), as Meghalaya went from 70/4 to 146/5. A few more runs down the order saw the hosts reach 237 all out, which they made at 4.42 runs per over.
That set Sikkim 331 runs to win and they had plenty of time to do it. The only question was whether they could put up enough resistance against the Meghalaya bowlers.
The visitors’ opening pair put on 44 for the first wicket, but Sudhir Sahani (3/25) trapped Avinash Rajak (10) lbw and that opened the floodgates.
Sikkim were eventually bowled out for 126, with Aryan (5/35) claiming the best figures for Meghalaya. Bipin took 2/26 to go with his 6/32 in the first innings.
This was Meghalaya fourth win and they now have 26 points and are in fourth place in the plate group.
(Photo of Meghalaya batting contributed by the Meghalaya Cricket Association)
