By Our Reporter
Shillong, Dec 1: A terrific fight by Meghalaya saw them come within 30 runs of what would have been a phenomenal victory over Services in the Vijay Hazare Trophy domestic men’s one day tournament in Jaipur on Friday.
Services are second in Group B of the tournament and Meghalaya gave the military men more than they would have bargained for, with stand-in skipper Dippu Ch Sangma starring with the ball and Kishan Lyngdoh with the bat.
Meghalaya won the toss and chose to field first, restricting Services to 236/9 in their 50 overs. However, Meghalaya were then bowled out for 207 in 48.3 overs.
A brilliant start saw Meghalaya reduce Services to 20/3, with two wickets going to Dippu (4/38 in 10 overs) and one to Md Nafees (3/48 in 10).
Services continued to lose their way and they were at 120/7 before a rescue effort by the tailenders saw them recover with half-centuries for Arjun Sharma (61) and Poonam Poonia (51), both of whom were finally dismissed by Nafees.
The other wickets to fall were claimed by Raj Biswa (1/30 in 6 overs) and Swarajeet Das via run out.
Meghalaya experienced the opposite fate of Services, with a strong start laid down by Raj, who hit a run-a-ball 21 and former Services player Nakul Verma (23 from 21). Kishan then came in at No. 4 and struck a peerless 74 from 89 deliveries, which included seven fours. He made 111 runs for the fourth wicket with Tanmay Mishra, who struck 52 from 83 (also including seven fours).
With the pair at the crease, Meghalaya were looking comfortable. They reached 162/3, leaving them with 75 to get from more than 16 overs. However, Poonia (4/35) and Sharma (3/30) did as much damage with the ball as they had done in the Services innings with the bat and Meghalaya slipped to 207 all out, losing their last seven wickets for 45 runs.
After coming close to victory on more than one occasion, Meghalaya will look to convert these chances when they go up against Manipur on Sunday in their next game.