Shillong, November 16: As many as 22 wickets fell on the first day of the Meghalaya-Sikkim U-19 men’s Cooch Behar Trophy 2025-26 plate group match at the MCA Ground here today.
Meghalaya won the toss and chose to field first, dismissing the visitors for a mere 76. Meghalaya took a first innings lead but were also bowled out for a fairly low 108. At stumps, Sikkim were 46/2, leading by 14.
Although conditions, on the face of it, seemed good for batting, with sunshine throughout the day, the bowlers were able to extract enough help from the pitch, especially the spinners.
Mewankitbok Kharpuri, who had a very successful stint in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy one day tournament that preceded the first-class Cooch Behar Trophy, bamboozled the Sikkim batters and finished with figures of 5/17 in 10.1 overs with his spin bowling. Gaurav Narleng (2/18 in 6 overs), Apandanka R Marak (2/21 in 9) and Paisal Ali (1/0 in 1) were the other wicket-takers. Sikkim’s top scorer was Deepak, who made 16 at the top of the order.
The hosts then lost a couple of early wickets but Rudra Singh Rathor (24 from 44, 4x4s) and Gaurav (22 from 28, 4x4s) put on 37 for the third wicket and looked to have settled the Meghalaya first innings.
However, a spate of wickets brought about by the introduction of Parvin (3/26 in 11) and Bhavya (5/17 in 3.2) led to a Meghalaya collapse and at one point, when they were 69/8, it looked like they would fall short of Sikkim’s small total.
Luckily, No. 10 Mewankitbok came to the rescue with an entertaining 34 from 32 balls (6x4s) and Meghalaya were able to take a first innings lead and also go past the 100-run mark.
Sikkim had a shaky start to their second innings as Gaurav (1/6 in 3) took a wicket in the very first over but Avneesh (23) and Sahil (18 not out) added a further 43 together. Avneesh did not last the evening as he was trapped LBW by Mewan (1/19 in 8) but his efforts ensured that Sikkim were not routed twice on the first day.
