Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Manipur suffer 9-wicket loss to Bihar

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jan 17 : Manipur suffered second loss in its fourth plate group encounter of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at Sri Ramachandra Medical College Ground, Chennai today as Bihar chased down the target of 106 runs in 17.1 overs with ease.
Let in to bat first, Manipur got off to a shocking start losing opener Karnajit Yumnam on a golden duck to Anuj Raj. However, sensible batting performances from skipper RK Rex (29 off 29 balls), Jayanta Sagatpam (15 off 22 balls), Langlonyamba Meitankeishangbam (12), Ahmed Shah (10) and L Kishan Singha (10), Nongthombam Denin (9) and Narsingh (7) helped Manipur post a total of 105 for 8 in 20 overs.
Bihar's Amod Yadav chipped in with four wickets in his spell of 4 overs offering 17 runs to exert a strong pressure on Manipur's batting line up while Samar Quadri finished with 2 for 15 in his spell of 4 overs.
Anuj Raj and Ashutosh Aman also earned a wicket apeice in Manipur's innings.
With the modest target in sight, Bihar started its chase with relative ease and reached 107 for 1 in 17.1 overs for the fourth straight win as Shasheem Rathour (60 not out) and Babul Kumar (31 not) produced a brilliant second wicket stand display.
Though overall bowling attack proved too blunt to Bihar, debutant Nongthom-bam Denin stole to show by dismissing Mangal Mahrour for 14 in the 8th over besides maintaining a good economy (4.6) in this innings.
 Another player from Manipur making debut was Sarojkumar Nongthombam who bowled well to finish with a good figure of 4-0-21-0.
In today's other plate group matches, Nagaland secured a 77 run win against Mizoram, Meghalaya registered a 9 wicket win against Arunachal Pradesh and Chandigarh notched up a huge 131 run victory against Sikkim.
Manipur, having secured two wins in four matches, will hope to finish its campaign on a high when they face Nagaland on January 19 at TI Cycles Ground, Murugappa, Chennai.