Shillong, Oct 25: Sikkim walked off the field at stumps in a fine mood after posting 310/6 on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 plate group match against Meghalaya at the MCA Ground in Polo here today.
Meghalaya won the toss in the morning and, as is typically the case at this ground, looked to take advantage of favourable bowling conditions and field first.
The hosts started well, with Akash Chaudhary claiming three early wickets to leave Sikkim rattled on 24/3, with the fast bowler taking a wicket with his first ball of the day. The third dismissal was also notable for the sharp reaction catch made by Arien Bonchang Sangma at short leg, with the fielder latching on to a hard hit from Sikkim’s Anwesh Sharma.
The visitors were then reduced further to 46/4 after Ashish Thapa was bowled by another fast bowler, Chengkam Sangma.
However, the early advantage for the bowlers waned as the first session continued. Sikkim reached 84 without further loss by lunch time and continued on deep into the second session. For that they had AB Raheja (51 from 96) and Gurinder Singh (129 from 170) to thank. If the latter name sounds familiar to local cricket fans it should be – Gurinder was a former guest professional for Meghalaya in years gone by and even played in the local Shillong Cricket League as recently as this year. Now plying his trade for Sikkim, he batted beautifully for his century, hitting 17 fours in the process.
Rajera was caught behind by Arpit Bhatewara off a Chengkam delivery but by that time Sikkim had added 66 for the fifth wicket. Things were only to get harder for Meghalaya as Sikkim’s other guest player, Kranthi Kumar (87 not out from 161) joined Gurinder out in the middle and they put on 196 in a highly productive sixth wicket partnership before the centurion was bowled by Akash in the penultimate over of the day.
Akash finished proceedings with 4/69 and Chengkam 2/52. They will look to wrap up the Sikkim innings as fast as possible tomorrow morning, while Kranthi will be eyeing a century.
