By Monojit Mandal
SHILLONG: Nirdesh Baisoya playing for Meghalaya in the U-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy reeled in a record 10-wicket haul on the first day of the match against Nagaland in Tezpur, Assam, on Wednesday.
Nirdesh is the first from the state and second from the North East to achieve this rare feat after Rex Singh from Manipur scalped 10 wickets in an innings in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy match against Arunachal Pradesh in Ananthpur last year. Before Rex, Sidak Singh, left-arm spinner from Puducherry, had taken 10 wickets against Manipur in the CK Nayudu Trophy last season.
Talking about his achievement, an elated 15-year old Nirdesh told The Shillong Times he looked forward to churning out more such performances for his team.
“I am feeling very happy to take 10 wickets in an innings and contribute with the bat as well for the cause of my team. This achievement will inspire me to work harder and come up with more such performances for my team in the future,” Nirdesh said. “I had heard a lot about how Anil Kumble’s 10-wicket haul had demolished Pakistan and I always wanted to emulate that in my cricketing journey, but never thought this will happen today.
“I got six wickets in the first session itself and started to believe that I can get the remaining all by myself. My teammates helped me a lot in this. There was help in the pitch as well which in fact acted as a catalyst”, he said. This is Nirdesh’s second season in the U-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy and he has already pouched 27 wickets from four matches.
Asked about his idols, Nirdesh promptly said he was fond of Ravichandran Ashwin and also liked Nathan Lyon a lot.
“We are very happy for Nirdesh and this is a great achievement for him. It is a very special moment for us which is hard to express in words as we witnessed this magical 10-wicket feat from up close. All I can say is we are very proud of Nirdesh and look forward to seeing more such performances from him”, said team manager Arun Rai.
Gideon Kharkongor, Secretary, Meghalaya Cricket Association, was also euphoric about Nirdesh’s stellar show playing for the state and said that this was a great achievement for cricket in Meghalaya as a whole.
“It is a proud moment that our boy has achieved this rare feat, only second to Rex from Manipur… this is a great achievement indeed for Meghalaya cricket”, he said.
Baisoya, who is originally from Meerut and designated as an off-spinner in his trade, finished with figures of 10/51 off 21 overs with 10 maidens to send Nagaland packing for just 113 on Day 1. Although none of the other bowlers took a wicket, they would not have minded as their team mate Baisoya made history.
Earlier in the day, Nagaland had won the toss and opted to bat first, but could not deal with Baisoya’s deadly spin bowling.
Baisoya wasn’t finished for the day though.
When Meghalaya’s turn came with the bat, he scored a valuable 68 runs to see the side reach 109/4 at stumps.