Shillong, December 12: It was a tough day with the bat for both Manipur and Meghalaya on the first day of their U-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy round three match at the MCA Cricket Ground here on Tuesday.
At stumps on the first day Meghalaya were 41/3 and trailing by 78 runs in response to Manipur’s 119 all out on a partly overcast day.
The start of the match was advanced by one day, but that did not seem to mind the bowlers of both teams, with 13 wickets falling on the day as both sides struggled with the bat.
The hosts won the toss and put Manipur in to bat first, which appeared to be the right decision with the visitors unable to sustain any real partnerships.
Gavineal Marpna took 4-14 in 19 overs, while Swastic Chettri bagged 3-20 in 14 overs. With 1-22, Kirtirajsinh Raulji also added to Manipur’s woes with the spinning ball and Suhir Sahani (2-18) was the only pace bowler to take wickets for Meghalaya.
Extras (26) actually contributed the most runs to Manipur’s total, while captain Ansh scored the most with the bat with 20 runs.
Meghalaya were supremely buoyed up by their fine bowling performance, but they faced their own difficulties in their innings.
Pace bowler Dominic snapped up two early wickets, finishing the day with figures of 2-12, while his team mate Jotin Pheiroijam (1-4) took the other.
The only one who did not seem to have trouble scoring was Dikshit Parmar, who hit all of his 24 runs in fours before he was dismissed lbw to Pheiroijam.
