Dippu Sangma grabs first five-wicket haul in BCCI domestic cricket
Shillong, Jan 7: Meghalaya completely routed Arunachal Pradesh by an innings and 172 runs in their opening Ranji Trophy plate group match in Anand, Gujarat, on Sunday.
Dippu Sangma nicked 5/54 as Arunachal were all out for 238 in 84.5 overs in their second innings. This was Dippu’s first five-wicket haul in BCCI domestic cricket and, with 4/18 in the first innings, he finished with impressive match figures of 9/72.
To recap, Arunachal, the hosts for this game, were skittled for a mere 94 in their first innings on Friday and Meghalaya then amassed 504/9 declared thanks to an historic 268 by Kishan Lyngdoh (the first Ranji double century by a Meghalaya domiciled player) and 132 by Ram Gurung on his first-class debut on Saturday.
Although they improved in their second innings, Arunachal, who resumed play on 57/2, were nowhere near making Meghalaya bat again and thus lost the match by an innings with a day to spare.
“Congratulations to Dippu Sangma for his five-wicket haul,” Meghalaya Cricket Association President Nababrata Bhattacharjee said after the match. “And congratulations on the big win to Team MCA.”
There were a couple of decent partnerships this time round by the Arunachal players but they were only postponing the inevitable.
Dippu’s scalpswere key to the Meghalaya cause as he broke Arunachal’s best partnership (62 for the third wicket) and also removed the opposition’s top scorer (Techi Neri, who made 46).
The other wickets were taken by Md Nafees (2/23), Ram (1/18) and Arbin Singh (1/50).
Meghalaya now return home and will prepare for their huge second fixture against Hyderabad from 12 January at the MCA Ground here in Polo. Hyderabad also won their opener by a massive margin of an innings and 194 runs against Nagaland. Although they find themselves in the plate group this season, Hyderabad will undoubtedly be highly motivated as they look to requalify for the elite groups but Meghalaya will also want to give them the strongest challenge possible.
Elsewhere, Cheteshwar Pujara showed his insatiable hunger for runs with his 17th double hundred in first-class cricket before Prerak Mankad’s all-round show put Saurashtra in command of their Ranji Trophy opener against Jharkhand on day three here on Sunday.
Pujrara, unbeaten on 157 overnight, ended with 243 not out off 356 balls as Saurashtra declared their first innings at 578 for four in response to Jharkhand’s 142 all in the first innings, gaining a massive lead of 436 runs.
The declaration came after Mankad (104 not out off 176) completed his second first-class hundred.
Jharkhand openers Kumar Deobrat (74 not out off 130) and Nazim Siddique (45 off 51) batted with a lot more purpose in the second innings but twin strikes from medium pacer Mankad left them at 140 for two at stumps on day three.
Jharkhand still trail Saurashtra by 296 runs. Skipper Aryan Juyal struck a fine century to complement the bowlers as Uttar Pradesh extended their lead by 278 runs on day 3 of their Ranji Trophy Group B fixture against Kerala here on Sunday.
Resuming at 220 for six, Kerala could add just 23 runs before being shot out for 243, handing Uttar Pradesh a 59-run lead.
Pacer Ankit Rajpoot (5/64) claimed the remaining four wickets to seize a fifer. Prabhsimran Singh’s aggressive century helped Punjab find some late fight against Karnataka and post 238 for three in their second innings on the third day of the Elite Group C Ranji Trophy match here Sunday.
Prabhsimran made an even hundred off 146 balls with 17 boundaries, and he received wonderful support from his opening partner Abhishek Sharma (91, 123 balls, 9×4,3×6).
Prabhsimran and Sharma milked 192 runs in just 44.3 overs as Punjab wiped out a considerable chunk from the 362-run big first innings lead they conceded.
However, Punjab still trail by 124 runs. Earlier,