Vijay Merchant Trophy Plate GroupManipur extend winning run with thumping 9 wicket victory over Nagaland

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Dec 12 : Manipur notched up a convincing 9 wicket win over Nagaland for the second victory in the Vijay Merchant Trophy Plate Group encounter at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack today.
The outright win within two days for Manipur came after a draw against Sikkim (previous match). Manipur had earlier opened the account with a huge 156 run victory against Mizoram.
Nagaland won the toss and elected to bat first but were bundled out for just 149 runs in 49.2 overs despite Aloto Sumi's fighting 41 off 57 deliveries as Saikhom Kaiku (4/58 in 16 overs) and Md Danish (3/39 in 10.2 overs) shared a bulk of 7 wickets between them.
Manipur then took a 30-run first innings lead piling up 179 runs in 65.2 overs thanks to Donba 32, Rain 38, Naesh 29, Danish 24, Y Achouba 19 and Bisal Ningombam 13 before Nagaland's position went from bad to worse as they collapse at 58 within 23.1 overs to give Manipur an extremely easy target of 29 runs.
Manipur then took 8.3 overs to add 30 runs for wickets to seal the comprehensive victories with Binson 7 and Sougaijam  Robinson 22 finishing off the chase with their unbeaten second wicket partnership.
Shyerinlo Thong (16), Olemjung (25) and Salangdangba (15) had also managed double digit runs in Nagaland's first innings which also saw Naesh (1/20 in 8 overs), Y Achouba (1/6 in 3 overs) and Robinson Sougaijam (1/2 in 1 over) claiming a wicket each to quicken the Nagaland batting collapse.
Aloto Sumi with 25 runs was once again the highest scorer for Nagaland in the second innings as Rain (3/8 in 8 overs that include 3 maidens), Bishal Ningombam (3/13 in 4 overs), Danish (2/29 in 9.1 overs) and Kaiku (2/3 in 2 overs) ripped their line up apart.
In Manipur's first innings, Dipanshu Sah starred with a 5 wicket haul conceding 42 runs in his spell of 6 overs as Salangdangba (1/21), Aloto Sumi (1/49), Solomon Ahungshi (1/30) and Yashimeren Jamir (1/12) all picked a wicket apiece.
The lone wicket in Manipur's second innings was claimed by Dipanshu Sah in the opening over.
Manipur will square off against Arunachal Pradesh in the fourth tie from December 16.
Brief Scores
Nagaland 149/10 in 49.2 overs (Aloto Sumi's fighting 41, Olemjung 25; Saikhom Kaiku 4/58, Md Danish 3/39) and 58/10 in 23.1 overs (Aloto Sumi 25;  Rain 3/8, Bishal Ningombam 3/13, Danish 2/29 Kaiku 2/3)
Manipur 179/10 in 65.2 overs (Donba 32, Rain 38, Naesh 29, Danish 24; Dipanshu Sah 5/42) and 30/1 in 8.3 overs (Binson 7 not out, Sougaijam  Robinson 22 not out; Dipanshu Sah 1/18)