Vijay Merchant Trophy Plate Group : Rain, Danish help Manipur trounce Meghalaya by an innings and 73 runs
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 22 2023: Manipur (U-16 boys) cruised to fourth win in Vijay Merchant Trophy Plate Group with an innings and 73-run victory over Meghalaya in two days of the last group stage tie at Ravenshaw University Ground 1 in Cuttack.

Manipur have defeated Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh and played out a draw with Sikkim earlier.

With today's win Manipur emerged runaway Group leaders and confirmed their place in the semi-finals (to be played between top four Plate Group teams).

Plate Group's final winners will earn promotion to Elite group next season.

Vijay Merchant Trophy Plate Group

Meghalaya won the toss and opted to bat first but faltered in both the innings as Manipur bowlers Md Danish and Saikhom Kaiku continued their fine forms.

Saikhom Kaiku led the bowling attack to bowl out Meghalaya for only 79 runs in 27.2 overs and returned with the best figures of 5/8 in 7.2 overs including the scalp of G Narleng who scored the highest 39 for Meghalaya.

Danish 2/23 and Naesh 2/15 also shared four wickets among them and Rain managed a wicket to set up the Meghalaya collapse within 27.2 overs yesterday.

Continuing the day, Manipur racked up 233 runs in 60.5 overs as Rain hit an impressive 95-ball 94 after Binson scored a slow but noteworthy 127-ball 58 .

After losing Hanjabam Donba 20 and Robinson Sougaijam 21, it was the 122-ball 82 run partnership for the third wicket between Rain and Binson that took Manipur past the 150-run mark.

Rain's knock included 15 fours and 1 six while Binson found the fench 9 times on the way to his 58 .

Trailing behind by 154 runs, Meghalaya kicked off their second innings today but Md Danish who had collected 28 wickets in previous 9 innings ran riot to sweep the top five batters within 12.2 overs including highest scorer D Nandi for 20 runs and reduced Meghalaya to 30/5 .

Saikhom Kaiku, Naesh and Robinson Sougaijam the upset the line up claiming a wicket apiece to make it 70/8 in 27.2 overs before Rain bowled out A Marak and M Gupta on ducks in the 33rd and the 35th overs to end the Meghalaya innings in 34.5 overs with 81 runs at the scoreboard.

Danish returned with the best bowling figures of 5/21 in 8 overs that include 3 maidens as Rain finished with 2/9 in 5.5 overs.

The semi-finals are scheduled to begin from December 27 at JSCA Oval Ground, Ranchi and Keenan Stadium, Jamshedpur.

Brief Scores
Meghalaya 79/10 in 27.2 overs (G Narleng 39, Bj Makdoh 12; Saikhom Kaiku 5/8, Danish 2/23, Naesh 2/15) and 81/10 in 34.5 overs (D Dandi 20, Bj Makdoh 18; Danish 5/21, Rain 2/9)
Manipur 233/10 in 60.5 overs (Rain 94, Binson 58, Robinson 21, Donba 20; A Marak 5/43, M Gupta 2/50) .