Meghalaya completely routed Arunachal Pradesh by an innings and 76 runs on the third day of their U-19 men’s Cooch Behar Trophy match in Anand, Gujarat, today.
Resuming their second innings on 22/1, 183 runs from making Meghalaya bat again, hosts Arunachal were dismissed for 129 in 45.5 overs to give Meghalaya a second consecutive victory. Yesterday, Meghalaya had made 365 all out, giving them a large first innings lead of 205 over Arunachal, who had scored 160/10 on the first day. The impressive first innings score was thanks in large part to Avinash Rai’s century of 126.
Angkit Tamang shone brightest among the Meghalaya bowlers today as he returned figures of 4/33 in 17 overs, while fellow pacer Shavian Blah netted 3/22 in 11. Two wickets went to spinner Kishlay Vishlux (2/15 in 4.5) while left-arm quick Balgrik Sangma (1/32 in 9) did not add to his one scalp from yesterday.
Shavian had claimed 4/34 in the first innings, thus giving him the best match figures overall of 7/56 and he also hit 74 with the bat in Meghalaya’s only innings. Both Angkit and Balgrik took five wickets each over the course of the whole match, ending with 5/62 and 5/60 respectively.
After a draw with Mizoram and loss to Nagaland, both at home, Meghalaya have now won two consecutive matches on the road against Sikkim and now Arunachal; the latter result is all the more impressive as Arunachal had won all three of their previous matches in the run-up to this one and are leading the Plate Group.
The Meghalaya boys will now return home brimming with confidence as they take on Manipur in their last match of the tournament from 15 December in Shillong.
