Shillong, Nov 15: Meghalaya demolished Nagaland by eight wickets for their fourth consecutive victory in the U-23 men’s State A Trophy 2025-26 plate group in Mohali today.
Meghalaya won the toss and made Nagaland bat first but the latter were bundled out for just 85 in 32.1 overs. Meghalaya then chased this modest target down in 23.2 overs for the loss of two wickets.
Raja Swarnkar was Nagaland’s top scorer with a knock of 25, while Chandra Bahadur Thapa was the most successful Meghalaya bowler with figures of 3/9 in 5.1 overs. He was the last of the six bowlers introduced but proved to be the most destructive. Shavian Blah also had wonderful success, taking 3/20 in 6 overs, while Gavineal Marpna bagged 2/9 in 8 very economical overs. Pushkar Raj singh (1/8 in 3 overs) and Denikcheng Marak (1/12 in 5) were the other wicket-takers.
In the chase, Meghalaya’s opening pair of Dipankar Baruah and Thunun Marak were progressing nicely. They brought up 50 runs in around 15 overs and would have been aiming to take Meghalaya to victory themselves but Dipankar was dismissed for 33 from 51 balls (3x4s, 1×6) by Kelhousilie Zaputou (2/37), who would then go on to remove Shavian for a duck.
However, Thunun (29 not out, 67 balls, 5x4s) and Md Ashif Khan (16 not out from 16, 3x4s) saw off the remaining runs together in an unbroken stand of 27.
Meghalaya have one more group match to play, against the other unbeaten team in the group – Mizoram – on Monday in Chandigarh.
