In a brilliant display of bowling, Bipin Kumar Ray picked up six wickets on the third day of Meghalaya’s U-23 men’s Col CK Nayudu Trophy against Mizoram in Nadiad, Gujarat, today.
Toiling away for 46.4 overs (which included 14 maidens), Bipin took 6/74 as Mizoram were dismissed in their second innings for 232. That set Meghalaya a total of 194 to win and they were on 30/2 at stumps, with the match hanging in the balance ahead of the final day tomorrow.
To recap, Meghalaya had won the toss on Sunday and elected to field first. They were able to dismiss Mizoram, the hosts for this match, for 220 and then responded with 259, thus giving Meghalaya a first innings lead of 39.
Aryan Borah spun his way to 4/34 in 16 overs for Meghalaya in Mizoram’s first innings, while all four of his team mates who were given the ball also claimed wickets – Bipin (2/23 in 8), PM Santhosh (2/25 in 10), Manish Sharma (1/54 in 20) and Abhishek Kumar (1/64 in 13).
After two back-to-back centuries, Meghalaya’s Kevin Christopher was again the top scorer for his side but this time he was denied a ton as he was out for 88 in 188 deliveries (14x4s).
He was given excellent support by Kush Agarwal (64 from 168, 8x4s). They came together after Meghalaya had lost their first three batters for a mere 10 on the scoreboard and the team needed them to stick around and mount a recovery.
That they were able to do thanks to their resilience and cricketing nous as they structured a partnership of 156 for the fourth wicket over nearly 56 overs in the middle together.
K Vanrotlinga, who made 67 for Mizoram in the first innings, proved to be the major thorn in the side of Meghalaya in the second as he hit 101 before becoming one of Bipin’s six scalps of today.
Manish (2/30 in 20 overs) also took out two of the first three Mizoram batters while Abhishek (1/23 in 9) and Santhosh (1/31 in 9) chipped in with a wicket each.
Although Meghalaya have a sub-200 total to chase, batting last on the fourth day will prove a challenge. Having to face 13 overs this evening, they lost two wickets. Nishanta Chakraborty (7 from 36) and Bipin (0 from 17) held out until stumps and will look to make a big dent in the target tomorrow morning.
