Shillong, Aug 29: Dippu Ch Sangma (left in picture) and Kishan Lyngdoh have been selected for the North East Zone team that will be making its maiden appearance in the Duleep Trophy. Meghalaya’s Chiang D Shira will also be the manager of the side.
Sangma has played 45 domestic matches for Meghalaya in BCCI tournaments and has scored one Ranji Trophy century and two half-centuries — one in the first-class Ranji Trophy and one in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy. He has also taken 40 wickets in these two formats and the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Lyngdoh, meanwhile, has been in the Meghalaya team for a shorter period of time but made huge waves in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2021, hitting 247 runs in five innings with three fifties and at a strike rate of nearly 143.
The Duleep Trophy is a first-class knockout tournament that features zonal teams. This is the first time that the North East has been included, although Assam and Tripura play in the East Zone.
All 15 players selected for the NEZ team are locals; the selectors decided not to pick any guest players. The team will face West Zone from 8 September.
North East Zone squad: Techi Neri, Techi Doria (both from Arunachal Pradesh), Bishworjit Singh Konthoujam, Rajkumar Rex Singh, L Kishan Singha, Md Al Bashid (all Manipur), Kishan Lyngdoh, Dippu Ch Sangma (both Meghalaya), G Lalbiakvela, Bobby Zothansanga (both Mizoram), Jonathan Rongsen, Khrievitso Kense, Hokaito Zhimomi (all Nagaland), Ashish Thapa and Ankur Malik (both Sikkim).
