Abrar Kazi bowls during the opening day of the state’s first Ranji Trophy match at Nagaland Cricket Stadium, Sovima Dimapur on November 1. Kazi scored an unbeaten 200 off 215 balls and picked four wickets propelling Nagaland to a historic win over Mizoram on November 3, with a day to spare. (Morung Photo by Manen Aier)
Enters record book as first team to score 500-plus runs on Ranji Trophy debut
Morung Express News
Dimapur | November 3
Nagaland’s first Ranji Trophy outing ended on a historic note with a thumping win over fellow debutant Mizoram by an innings and 333 runs at the Nagaland Cricket Stadium, Sovima on November 3.
Another brilliant spell from the bowlers ensured that Mizoram were all out for 106 in 47.2 overs and with six ducks on the scorecard. The maiden Plate Group encounter between the two teams subsequently wrapped in the first session of the Day-3, with a day to spare.
Earlier, at the end of stumps on day 2, Mizoram were left reeling at 16 runs, losing two wickets in 10 overs and trialling Nagaland by 408 runs on November 2.
Tarun Kohli was the lone warrior from Mizoram, putting up a gritty 49 runs off 86 balls. Akhil Rajput (28) and Sinan Abdul Khadir (14) were the other batsmen from the side with double-digit scores.
In reply, Nagaland batsmen put up a mammoth total of 530 runs losing eight wickets, before declaring in 117.2 overs, with a with a quickfire double century by Abrar Kazi, the team’s Karnataka import. He remained unbeaten scoring 200 runs off 215 balls hitting 22 boundaries and 1 six, at a strike rate of 93.02.
Captain Jonathan Rongsen scored 72 runs before he was dismissed in the 43rd over. However, a steady partnership by Mughavi and Imliwati Lemtur - 58 runs and 50 runs respectively, poised the team for the big win.
The man of the match undoubtedly was the stellar all-around performance by Kazi, the former Karnataka spinner, who after an unbeaten 200 runs, scalped most of Mizos’ wickets by taking four in total, giving away just 16 runs in the process, with an economy rate of 1.00.
Imliwati too impressed with his bowling skill taking two wickets with 0.00 economy rate. Pawan Suyal also took two wickets while Tahmeed Rahman picked one. The other wicket came through a run-out.
Record-breaking debut
Meanwhile, the huge total of 530-8 also created history as Nagaland became the first team to score 500-plus runs on Ranji Trophy debut.
According to noted sports statistician, Mohandas Menon, earlier, only Northern India team had scored 459-7 (declared) against Army in 1934,
sportstarlive.com, the digital platform of the multi-sport weekly
Sportstar reported on Saturday.
“Menon could not find any 500-plus totals on debut by any team,” it added.
The team broke the 84-years old record for the highest total in debut in Ranji trophy, a press release from Nagaland Cricket Association also informed.
Starting its debut Ranji Trophy campaign on a high note, Nagaland will be certainly looking forward to maintain the momentum on their next match against Sikkim scheduled from November 12-15.
Altogether, the Nagaland Cricket Association will be hosting four matches at Nagaland Cricket Stadium, Sovima with the schedule running till January 3 next year.
A record 37 teams are participating in this edition of the premier domestic tournament with nine new teams – Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim and Uttarakhand are making their debuts in the 2018-19 season.
While the existing 28 teams have been divided into Elite Groups A, B [both having nine teams] and Elite Group C [10 teams], while the nine new teams are a part of the Plate Group.
Brief Scorecard:
Mizoram - 91/10 & 1O6/1O
Nagaland 53O/8 declared.
