Shillong, Nov 3: Meghalaya came agonisingly close to their first season victory in BCCI domestic cricket but fell short by just 4 runs against Sikkim in the Women’s U-19 T20 Trophy in Mumbai today.
Having yet to win in any format this year, Meghalaya’s hopes were high for the U-19 women’s team as they restricted Sikkim to a gettable score of 77/5 in their 20 overs. However, Meghalaya were then bowled out for 74 in 19.5 overs.
Ankita Sharma was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2/9 in 4 overs as Meghalaya were made to field first after losing the toss. All the bowlers performed well today, with the other wicket-takers being Jaylynn Marak (1/10 in 3 overs), Emisakani Warjri (1/11 in 2) and Sistilin Ryntathiang (1/12 in 3).
The chase was hampered by the loss of the top half of the line-up for a few runs, with Meghalaya at one point on 29/5. However, Monica Singh, who was originally a standby but took her place in the main squad due to the unavailability of a teammate, hit a run-a-ball 18 in partnership with Dubleen Nengnong (11 from 17 deliveries) to take Meghalaya to 61 without further loss, just 17 runs from victory.
Sikkim, though, could initiate another mini collapse and Meghalaya were down to 68/9 with all three results – Sikkim win, Meghalaya win or tie – in the mix with seven balls left in the match.
Meghalaya’s last pair managed to add another 6 runs but Jaylynn was stumped off the penultimate delivery, bringing their determined effort to an end as Meghalaya were all out for 74.
This was Meghalaya’s second tournament match; they lost to Chandigarh by 10 wickets yesterday and will play their next fixture versus Baroda on Sunday.
