Manipur end Men's U-25 State A Trophy campaign with 123 run win over Sikkim

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Nov 26 : Manipur capped their campaign in the Men's State A Trophy 2021-2022 with a 123 run victory over Sikkim at ACA Stadium, Barsapara, Guwahati today.
It was Manipur's fifth victory (plate group stage) in the tournament and fourth straight win after losing to Assam in the second match. Manipur in the opening match defeated Nagaland by 5 wickets before thumping Meghalaya by 174 runs in the third match.
In the fourth match, Manipur beat Arunachal Pradesh by 26 runs and overwhelmed Mizoram by 62 runs in the fifth match.
In the last plate group match of the tournament staged today, Sikkim won the toss and chose to field first.
Being put in to bat first, Manipur amassed a meagre total of 198 runs for 8 wickets in their quota of 50 overs courtesy an unbeaten 93 from Johnson, 30 runs added by Nitesh and an unbeaten 24 run knock by Denin.
Rahul Kumar was the pick of the Sikkim bowlers as he removed key Manipur batters to finish with best bowling figures of 4 for 19 runs in 10 overs which consisted of 4 maidens.
Sikkim skipper Anwesh too picked up 2 wickets for 31 runs in 10 overs while Ingsho Limboo and Rahul Gupta shared a wicket apiece.
Manipur's meagre total however proved an uphill task for Sikkim as in form Kishan shone yet again and ran riot across the batting line up forcing Sikkim to bundle out for 75 runs in 36.5 overs.
Suraj and Rahul with 13 runs in their names, were the highest run getters for Sikkim in their chase wherein Kishan enjoyed a four wicket haul for 9 runs in 7.5 overs which contained 2 maidens and Alfred Hmar grabbed two wickets for 22 runs in 7 overs. Bikash Singh, Denin and Nitesh also clinched a wicket each to apply break on Sikkim.
With the win, Manipur finished second to Assam on 20 points.