Vijay Hazare Trophy Manipur beat Sikkim in last ball thriller to end campaign on a high

    15-Dec-2021
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Vijay Hazare Team_1 
By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Dec 14 : Manipur beat Sikkim by 2 wickets in a last ball thriller for the second win and to end Vijay Hazare Trophy plate group campaign on a high at K L Saini Stadium, Jaipur.
Sikkim posted a modest total of 230 runs for the loss of 9 wickets after electing to bat first before Thomas M hit last- ball four to take Manipur to 234 for the win in a match that would have otherwise ended in a draw.
For Sikkim, Kartik CA topscored with a 40-ball 45 followed by Kranthi Kumar (29 off 39 balls), Palzor (27 off 29 balls), Pankaj (24 off 43 balls) and Lee Yong Lepcha (23 off 30 balls).
Ashish Thapa and Md Saptula (not out) also added identical 17 runs to Sikkim's tally in their innings in which Manipur's Homendro emerged wrecker-in-chief finishing with a three wicket haul for 34 runs in 10 overs.
Thomas M too proved his mettle as he scalped twice for 46 runs in his spell of 10 overs which contained 3 maidens and Kishan pick up a wicket for 42 runs in 10 overs.
In the chase, Manipur had a stuttering start like Sikkim as they were reduced to 29-2 in 5 overs after opening batters Bonny Chingangbam (7) and Karnajit Y (9) fell cheaply.
Nitesh (45 off 72 balls) and Johnson (32 off 50 balls) then set up recovery path for Manipur before Langlonyamba M (64-ball 52) and Jayanta (65-ball 50) took charge of the chase with half centuries and put Manipur within a sniffing distance of a win.
The last five overs proved crucial as Karthik CA (3/42 in 9 overs) and Palzor (2/44 in 8 overs) wreaked havoc removing key batters like Langlonyamba and Jayanta.
With Homendro's departure in the second delivery of the 49th over, Manipur were reduced to 225 for 8 but Kishan (3 off 7 balls not out) and Thomas M (7 off 6 balls) who were out for the 9th wicket stand soaked up the late pressure, rotated strikes to gather few singles before Thomas M struck a beautiful four in the last ball to earn Manipur a 2 wicket win and second win in the tournament.