By Our Reporter
Shillong, May 13: Meghalaya will battle for the trophy in the 3rd NECDC Senior Men’s Interstate Friendship Tournament 2025 after coming through their semifinal against Arunachal Pradesh by seven wickets at the Sovima Cricket Ground in Nagaland on Tuesday.
After winning the toss and making Arunachal bat first, Meghalaya dismissed their opponents in the one day match for just 101 in 33.1 overs before chasing the target down in a mere 19.3 overs.
The tournament is being hosted by the Nagaland Cricket Association under the aegis of the North East Cricket Development Council. This initiative is meant to help prepare the states for the upcoming BCCI 2025-26 domestic season.
This is already the best performance for Meghalaya as the previous two editions saw them unable to qualify for the final, though bad weather was to blame on both occasions.
On Tuesday, the bowling trio of Manish Sharma, Ram Gurung and Aryan Borah set up the win for Meghalaya. Manish bowled a sensational spell to take 4/2 in 5.1 overs, while Ram bagged 3/21 in 7 and Aryan 3/28 in 10. Arunachal’s highest individual score was 28 made by captain Neelam Obi at the top of the order. Although Arunachal were able to post 50 on the board for the loss of just one wicket, the rapid collapse that followed was brought about by excellent and accurate bowling (six batters were out bowled) as well as fielding.
Arpit Bhatewara led the way in the chase, hitting 49 from 39 for Meghalaya in a knock that included 10 fours.
He and Arien Bonchang Sangma (22 from 30, 1×4, 2×6) put on 56 in a strong opening partnership, while Nishanta Chakraborty (16 not out) and Lerry G Sangma (1 not out) saw the team over the line. Meghalaya skipper Kishan Lyngdoh (13 from 21) was the other batter to get time out in the middle today.
Meghalaya will take on twice defending champions Nagaland in the final on Thursday. Nagaland defeated Manipur by four wickets in the second semifinal on Tuesday.
In their Group B matches, Meghalaya first defeated favourites Nagaland (who have also hosted all three editions of this tournament) in a rain-affected match by 14 runs. They then trounced Sikkim by nine wickets to top the group and qualify for the semis.
Against Nagaland, Jaskirat Singh Sachdeva struck 67 and Arpit 57, while there was a wicket each for Akash K Choudhary, Abhishek Kumar, Ram and Aryan.
Ram then bagged 3/21 against Sikkim, while Akash took 3/28 and Abhishek 2/24. Arpit made 55 not out, his second half-century, while Akash was unbeaten on 53.