Shillong, Oct 19: Meghalaya came within touching distance of victory but were ultimately denied by Mizoram in their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 match in Jaipur on Thursday.
Although it was the closest Meghalaya had been to a win, the boys will be a little disappointed to lose to regional rivals Mizoram. Meghalaya won the toss and chose to field first and Mizoram made 163/6 in their 20 overs and Meghalaya were then restricted to 143/7.
Mizoram’s total was largely down to guest player Agni Chopra, who hammered 94 from 48 deliveries before he was dismissed by Akash Kumar Choudhary (1/21). Rajesh Bishnoi, one of Meghalaya’s own guest players, took 2/32, Lerry G Sangma 1/22 and Chengkam Sangma 1/27.
Lerry impressed with the bat once again, hitting a run-a-ball 36 (2x4s, 2x6s), while Junjun Sangma, who was making his domestic T20 debut, hit 21 from 20 (3x4s). Before they came together, Meghalaya were only going at around 5 runs per over but the pair then added 35 in just 4.2 (at a run rate of 8.08) for the fifth wicket.
However, the real fireworks came at the end when Anish Charak played another entertaining knock as he bludgeoned an unbeaten 36 from just 18 deliveries, including four fours and one maximum over cow corner. Although this helped Meghalaya get closer to the required run rate, they still could not quite bring themselves level and ended 20 runs short.
Meghalaya will next face Chhattisgarh on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Meghalaya’s senior women’s team played their first match of the BCCI’s Senior Women’s T20 Trophy in Vadodara, losing to Pondicherry by 77 runs.
Pondicherry hit 150/4 in 20 overs after being put into bat first and then kept Meghalaya down to 73/9.
Debasmita Dutta bagged 3/33 in 4 overs, including the wicket of Pondicherry’s top scorer E Kavisha (74), while Rebeldalis Syiemlieh (1/15 in 4) bowled very economically while also dismissing one of the opening batters.
In the chase, Monica Lyngdoh Phawa and Suriti Kumari Ray both hit 14 runs each. Meghalaya will be back in action on Friday when they face Karnataka.
Meanwhile, Meghalaya’s U-19 men’s team will be involved on Friday in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy, playing their final one-day fixture against Maharashtra in Vijayawada.
