Ranji Trophy: Raj 6 runs short of century as Meghalaya respond to big Mizoram total

The game started on Friday with Mizoram, acting as the hosts, winning the toss and choosing to bat first. They scored 359 before they were dismissed on Saturday and Meghalaya were 220/5 at stumps, trailing by 139.

A than 100 overs in the field, Meghalaya wanted a positive reply as they began their first innings and Raj delivered with his 94 not out at the top of the order and he is now in sight of his first Ranji ton since 2019. He lost two partners cheaply but found good support from the in-form Kishan Lyngdoh (47 from 84 balls) as they put on 71 for the third wicket.

Raj faced 216 deliveries and has racked up eight fours and the only six of the innings. With Kishan gone, he added another 53 with Jaskirat Singh Sachdeva (21 from 46) and then an unbeaten 61 for the sixth wicket with Ram Gurung, who will resume play tomorrow on 32 from 61 deliveries.

Earlier, Mizoram put up a solid total of 359. However, they would have perhaps aimed for more but lost their last three wickets in just 11.1 overs this morning.

In contrast to Meghalaya, which has picked only state domiciled players for this edition of the Ranji Trophy, Mizoram has continued to use guest players and one of these – Agni Chopra – struck 105 from just 90 balls before being dismissed by fast bowler Akash Kumar Choudhury (4/79 in 23 overs).

Two half-centuries were also provided by Hruaizela (57) and Vikash Kmr (67), with both these batters falling to the spin of Arbin Singh (2/92 in 24) and Raj (1/28 in 6) respectively. Swarajeet Das (1/30 in 14), Jaskirat (1/34 in 9) and Dippu Ch Sangma (1/57 in 13) were the other wicket-takers, with Meghalaya using as many as eight bowlers in total.

The first priority on Sunday will be for Meghalaya to get to Mizoram’s total and then build up a lead, while the team will also be hoping to see Raj get to a deserved century.