Meghalaya’s men’s and women’s teams lost their T20 matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Senior Women’s T20 Trophy respectively today, while the state’s last U-19 men’s Vinoo Mankad Trophy one day match was washed out against Rajasthan.
In Group C of the men’s T20 tournament, Meghalaya won the toss and chose to bat first against Karnataka in Mullanpur, Punjab, but were only able to post 89/8 in their allotted 20 overs. Lerry Sangma stood out with a top score of 34 from 25 deliveries in an innings that included two fours and two sixes. Yogesh Tiwari also contributed 22 and Raj Biswa 11.
Lerry and Yogesh put on 56 for the fifth wicket but Meghalaya then lost four batters in consecutive deliveries spread across two overs and were restricted to a modest total.
Abhishek Kumar (1/15) claimed a wicket in the very first over of the chase but Karnataka’s Mayank Agarwal and Manish Pandey – both India internationals – carried the team home by 9 wickets. Meghalaya will be up against another big team in the form of Maharashtra on Sunday.
In the women’s T20 tournament, today’s Group A game in Bangalore was reduced to just 5 overs a side. Andhra Pradesh won the toss and made Meghalaya bat first, with the team making 21/4. Ajima Sangma (1/7) claimed a wicket in the first over of the second innings but Andhra Pradesh got the job done in exactly 2 overs for no further loss of wickets. The Meghalaya women will be back in action on Sunday against Odisha.
Finally, in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy, rain in Pune meant that the start of Meghalaya versus Rajasthan in Group C was delayed. When the game finally got going, Meghalaya won the toss and opted to field first. Rajasthan then reached 87/4 before bad weather again set in and play had to be abandoned. Four Meghalaya bowlers tasted success today, with Bosrang R Marak (1/11), Banialam Mylliemngap (1/16), Bharat Gurung (1/17) and Raghav Magotra (1/18) taking a wicket each.
