Morung Express News
Dimapur | April 18
Sedezhalie Rupreo scored a hundred as Dimapur District claimed the Under-23 Inter District Cricket Trophy at the NCA Stadium, Dimapur on Wednesday.
The overcast conditions notwithstanding, Sedezhalie continued his rich vein of form with the bat as he scored an unbeaten 105 and in the process, helped Dimapur cruise to a comfortable 10-wicket win over Tuensang District.
Earlier, Tuensang electing to bat had put on a commendable score of 176 from 36.3 overs. Aditya led with 62 runs and was assisted by Changsomba with 28 runs. Dimapur’s Akavi Yeptho and Nagaho returned with 3 wickets each while Rakhu claimed 2.
In the run chase, Sedezhalie, who already had two 50s to his name, was in no mood to let up. He would share an unbroken stand of 177 runs with opening partner Puchu Deb – who also managed a half century (52*) – as Dimapur won the first ever U-23 Inter District Cricket Tournament.
Dimapur also claimed all the individual prizes on offer. Sedezhalie with a total of 258 runs was adjudged Best Batsmen while Akavi Yeptho who picked 11 wickets during the tournament was awarded Best Bowler. The Player of the Tournament went to Tahmeed Rahman for his haul of 9 wickets and 60 runs.
The tournament was organised by the Nagaland Cricket Association and saw the participation of eight districts – viz., Dimapur, Kohima, Tuensang, Mon, Mokokchung, Peren, Zunheboto and Wokha.
It may be noted here that Tahmeed and Sedezhalie have already represented NE and Bihar combined team with Tahmeed as captain. All three winners of the individual prizes were among the first batch of players whose talents were identified and groomed by the Nagaland Cricket Association since 2010 and have represented Nagaland in the U-14, U-16, U-19 and U-23 over the years in BCCI tournaments.
