Uttarakhand puts up tough fight against Meghalaya

Shillong: Dipu Sangma took two wickets for Meghalaya on the second day of their Ranji Trophy plate group match against Uttarakhand in Dehradun on Friday, but the hosts still resisted firmly and were on 175/4 at stumps.
That leaves Uttarakhand 136 runs behind Meghalaya’s first innings total of 311 all out. Resuming play on 294/5, the visitors’ last five wickets fell rather cheaply and they were only able to add 17 runs before they were dismissed. Punit Bisht’s 154 from Thursday remained the batting highlight of Meghalaya, while
Uttarakhand’s D Dhapola took 6/52 to finish as the best bowler for the hosts. In reply Uttarakhand’s innings was much slower but they saw off the early threat posed by the visitors’ opening bowlers Abhay Negi (0/36) and Chengkam Sangma (0/37).
However, the introduction of Dipu proved a turning point, as he soon rattled the stumps of Karanveer Kaushal (24) and then had Kartik (6) caught by Gurinder Singh. Dipu ended the day with 2/26 from 15 overs.
Swarajeet Das (1/24) also claimed a wicket for Meghalaya, while Gurinder (1/33) bagged the other to leave Uttarakhand on 92/4.
However, Vineet Saxena (62 not out), who opened the batting, found good company in the form of Rajat Bhatia (54 not out) and the two batted for the rest of the day.
They have so far put on 83 for the fifth wicket.