Shillong, Oct 15: It went down to the very last over but Meghalaya held on for a 7-run victory against Nagaland in the plate group of the U-19 men’s Vinoo Mankad Trophy in Chandigarh today.
Made to bat first after Nagaland won the toss, Meghalaya posted a total of 155 all out in 48.3 overs and then dismissed their opponents for 148 in 49.1 overs to seal a memorable victory.
Nagaland were in real trouble at 38/6, with Apandanka Marak bowling terrifically for his 4/18 in 10 overs. However, Nagaland captain Aloto Sumi played magnificently for his 66 from 139 deliveries and put on 61 for the seventh wicket with Anurag Gupta (13 from 54) to stabilise the chase.
Anurag, however, was dismissed by Mewankitbok Kharpuri (1/33 in 10 overs) and Benedict Jones Makdoh (2/16 in 10) then struck twice to remove lower order batters. That left Aloto facing the last few overs with No. 11 Ravi Kumar Ray. They eked out another 23 runs together and were only a handful away from victory when Aloto was run out by Rudra Singh Rathor off the first ball of the last over, giving Meghalaya victory.
Earlier, Dipayan Nandi led the way for Meghalaya with the bat, hitting 52 from 91 balls. Angkit Tamang added 38 from 107, with the pair putting on 93 for the fourth wicket after Meghalaya were reduced to 30/3. Boundaries were hard to come by, with Dipayan and Angkit only hitting one each, meaning that they had to exercise their legs with plenty of running between the wickets.
With two consecutive wins, Meghalaya will next play Mizoram on Friday in the last round robin match.
