CK Nayudu Trophy: Nagaland beat Meghalaya to win Plate final

Sovima, February 19 (MExN): A wicket galore spectacle unfolded at the Sovima’s Nagaland Cricket Stadium on Monday as Nagaland emerged victorious against Meghalaya in a “nail-biting” Plate Group final of the Col CK Nayudu Trophy 23-24. 

The contest, which concluded two days ahead of schedule, saw a total of 22 wickets tumble on Monday.

Earlier, Nagaland recommenced their first inning with a score of 50 runs and one wicket down, in pursuit of a modest target of 108 runs.

However, their batting lineup struggled to capitalise, losing 9 wickets for a mere 59 runs to finish with a slim one-run lead. 

Meghalaya’s 2nd inning performance was equally lackluster, folding at just 54 runs, with only Bipin managing to cross the double-digit mark with 11 runs.

The star of the bowling spectacle was Nagaland’s Neizekho Rupreo, who proved to be too formidable for Meghalaya’s batsmen.
Rupreo claimed an impressive 6 wickets in the 2nd inning, adding to his 3-wicket haul in the 1st inning to finish the match with a total of 9 wickets.

Hem Bahadur also played a crucial role, accounting for the remaining wickets with figures of 4/24 in 8 overs.

Chasing a target of 53 runs, Nagaland successfully achieved victory with the loss of 3 wickets, securing a 7-wicket win. Mughavi’s unbeaten knock of 62 runs stood out as the sole notable contribution with the bat for Nagaland.

With this, the final encounter, initially scheduled from February 18-21, concluded ahead of the deadline.

Besides the CK Nayudu Trophy triumph, Nagaland Cricket had a productive 23-24 season, with the Under-19 team clinching the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy (Plate Group) by defeating Meghalaya once again in the final.

Both the Under 16 and Senior Men’s teams, competing in the Vijay Merchant and Ranji Trophy categories, reached the semi-finals but faced defeats respectively against Meghalaya and a strong Hyderabad side.