DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 8 (MExN): Nagaland played their fourth match today of the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at ACA Cricket Ground, Malapadu and defeated Arunachal Pradesh by 79 runs.
Nagaland, after having won the toss and opted to bat first, managed to post a total of 165 runs for 7 wickets, their highest total so far in the ongoing tournament. Nagaland started off well with an opening partnership stand of 49 runs between captain Jonathan Rongsen and Joshua Ben Ozukum.
However the captain was sent back to the pavilion by Niia when he was on 27 runs but the latter went on to score a brilliant 91 runs off 54 balls missing a well deserved century by just a whisker. His fine innings of 91 runs included 8 Fours and 4 Sixes. For Arunachal, Doria picked 3 wickets, Akhilesh Saina took 2 wickets while Niia & RB Bishnoi claimed a wicket each.
Chasing a challenging total, Arunachal were looking good at the start as their openers Doria and Song Tacho had a 50 runs opening partnership stand. However young Leggy Khrievitso Kense broke their partnership (53 runs) as he picked the wicket of Doria.
Following this, Imliwati then bowled a destructive spell as he picked 3 wickets on his very first over which left Arunachal middle order batsmen in a dilemma and were unable to recover from the impact as they were bundled out by 86 in just 15 overs by the spinners.
For Nagaland, Imliwati took 4 wickets (4/13), Khrievitso Kense (2/15) & Hokaito (2/5) picked 2 wickets each while Jonathan Rongsen (1/2) claimed a wicket. Nagaland will play their final match against Tripura on November 9 which will be played at Gokaraju Liala Gangaaraju ACA Cricket Ground, Mulapadu at 8:30 am.
