By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 16: Meghalaya played their first match of the prestigious Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, a BCCI domestic T20 tournament, against Hyderabad on Monday but lost the contest by nine wickets in Jaipur.
Meghalaya’s U-19 men’s team also faced Hyderabad in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy but lost the one day match by 246 runs in Vijayawada, while the state team were also defeated by Maharashtra by 358 runs in the Women’s U-19 One Day Trophy in Surat.
Hyderabad won the toss in Jaipur and, fielding first, reduced Meghalaya to 19/4 in 4.4 overs as the top four failed to get going. However, Lerry G Sangma halted the slide with a fine innings of 46 from 40 deliveries, which included seven fours and a six, the only one of the first innings.
He put on 40 welcome runs with guest player Rajesh Bishnoi (14 from 19) and then another 30 with Amiangshu Sen, who finished with an unbeaten 27 from 25 deliveries (2x4s), as Meghalaya posted 119/6 in their 20 overs. That proved to be insufficient, however, as Hyderabad chased down the target for the loss of just one wicket in 13.2 overs, with Chengkam Sangma (1/31) claiming the only scalp. Meghalaya will next play another big team in the form of Mumbai tomorrow.
In Vijayawada, Hyderabad also won the toss but this time batted first. They accumulated a huge total of 389/7 in their 50 overs to which Meghalaya were only able to respond with 143 all out in 47 overs.
Angkit Tamang went for a century of runs but was still the most successful bowler with figures of 3/102 in 10 overs. Charm Marbaniang claimed 2/51 in 10, Bilgrak Sangma 1/54 in 8 and Shavian Blah 1/67 in 8 as Hyderabad struck their runs all over the park.
In the chase, Shubham Rasaily put in his third good batting performance in an innings of 31 but on this occasion he was not the top scorer as Shavian hit 37 from 45 deliveries in the middle order. There were also smaller contributions from Rituraj Rabha (26) and Avinash Rai (16) but Meghalaya’s last five wickets fell in a heap for the addition of just 23 runs. They will next play Delhi on Wednesday. And in Surat, Meghalaya’s Women’s U-19 One Day Trophy campaign came to an end with defeat to Maharashtra, who, batting first after winning the toss, made a colossal 445/5 in 50 overs. Fennysha Nongrum bagged 2/56 in 8 overs in what was a commendable individual performance given the hitting that Maharashtra subjected Meghalaya to. Indariakor Kharwanniang (1/16) bowled just the one over but took a wicket, while the others fell to Jayshree Singh (1/66 in 6) and Kambesa A Sangma (1/74 in 10). In the chase, Ankita Sharma delivered on her potential with 30 runs, while Emisakani Warjri added 18 not out coming in at No. 9 as the team were all out for 87 in 23 overs. Although it has been disappointing to lose all five games, it has been a huge learning experience for the Meghalaya U-19 women and their experience should stand them in good stead for their future cricket careers.