BCCI A and A Cricket Tournament : Manipur down Nagaland by 6 wickets
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 11 2014 :
Manipur emerged convincing winners as they beat Nagaland by 6 wickets in the BCCI Affiliate and Associated Cricket Tourna-ment currently underway at Dhanbad, Jharkhand.
On winning the toss, Nagaland elected to bat first and were bundled out for 117 in 46.3 overs, thanks to some fine bowling by the players from Manipur.
N Suraj led the charge picking up four wickets in 12 overs and conceded 28 runs.
Suraj was ably assisted by Sultan who picked up 2 wickets in 10 overs for 26 runs and Sunil Salam who scalped one wicket in 7.3 runs for a mere 7 runs.
Set a target of 118, the batsmen of Manipur managed to find the gaps on either side of the wicket and keep the score board ticking at a reasonable rate.
With the bowlers of Nagaland unable to read the pitch well and delivering too many loose balls, the batsmen of Manipur did not have much of a problem in finding the gaps and coming up with some big hits.
Priyojit was the pick amongst the batsmen as he plundered 63 runs off 70 balls and carried his bat through the innings.
Digging in their heels, the Manipur batsmen read the length and line of the balls delivered to them and treated each ball with the merit it deserved.
The well delivered balls were deftly defended while the loose balls were despatched to the boundary.
Some quick running between the wickets also helped them.
Sultan kept Priyojit company at the crease carrying his bat through and scored a valuable 27 runs off 57 balls.
The other batsmen too chipped in well with Abdulla making a quick 12 runs off 15 balls while Bishworjit faced 10 balls to score 8 runs.
Never letting lose sight of the target, the Manipur batsmen kept their cool and managed to reach the target of 118 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 26.1 overs.
Manipur's entry into the final will depend on the outcome of the match between Bihar and Meghalaya on March 13 .