SHILLONG: Meghalaya is having a very good run at the Ranj Trophy as the NorthEastern side bowled out Manipur for just 211 runs on the first day of their Ranji Trophy plate group match in Kolkata on Wednesday.
In their first innings Meghalaya were 82/1 at stumps, 129 runs behind.
Meghalaya chose to field after winning the toss and straightway put Manipur under pressure early on with a couple of early wickets taken by Abhay Negi and Chengkam Sangma.
Then came spinner Aditya Singhania, however, proved to be the most successful bowler on the day, scalping four wickets for 42 runs.
Guest/professional Gurinder Singh, another spinner, also had a very good outing as he claimed 3/52, while Sangma ended with figures of 2/25 and Negi 1/27.
It will be interesting to see on Thursday how Meghalaya approach the morning session with Raj Biswa and captain Jason Lamare at the crease. They have put on 59 runs so far for the second wicket after Tarique Siddique fell for four. Biswa (47) is approaching his half-century, while Lamare is on 18.
Meanwhile, in the U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy, Raghav Kapur struck a century (115) as Meghalaya made 325 all out on the third day against Puducherry in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.
Meghalaya’s first innings total was 137 runs more than what Puducherry had managed in their first innings of 188.
Meghalaya had resumed on the third day on 207/6 with Raghav on 46 not out and he quickly reached his fifty and then later a century, which included nine fours.
Amankumar could not add to his overnight total of 29, but Aryan struck a handy 32 to help Meghalaya cross the 300-run mark.
Puducherry then embarked on their second innings, where they went exceedingly slowly. At stumps Puducherry were 67/1 (still trailing Meghalaya by 70 runs) after 47 overs. Aryan claimed the lone wicket (1/25) and Meghalaya will look to quickly dismiss Puducherry tomorrow on the final day in order to secure victory.
