9th MNCA Elite Tournament Loktongbam Santosh's all-round show gives CYCLONE 6 wicket win against PTCC

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jan 31 : Loktongbam Santosh impressed with both the bat and ball as CYCLONE, Thangmeiband beat PTCC, Patsoi Part III by 6 wickets in the ongoing 9th MNCA W Prahlada and W Ramananda Elite Tournament.
CYCLONE chose to field first and restricted PTCC to 152 runs for 9 wickets in the allotted 30 overs thanks to Loktongbam Santosh's leading three wicket haul and two wicket feats from Reolin Oinam and Suraj Nong.
CYCLONE then cruised to winning 156/4 in 25 overs thanks to half century knocks from Loktongbam Santosh (67 off 52 balls) and Muhammed Al Bashid (57 not out off 41 balls).
Put in to bat first, PTCC had a solid start with Dominic Moirangthem and Paonam Champion forging 91 runs for the first wicket but the Dominic's departure on 57 (off 48 balls; 8 fours and 2 sixes) in the 4th delivery of the 17th over  marked the turnaround of the innings as the incoming batters failed to make their marks with the bat.
It was L Santosh who caught and bowled Dominic before removing his opener partner P Champion on 35 in the same fashion in the 21st over.
Suraj Nong then undone incoming Andy Mandingbam and G Gomi Sharma cheaply in the 1st and the 5th delivery of the 22nd over to finish with a two wicket haul (2/19 in 6 overs) before Santosh yet again caught and bowled Hijam Hemachandra to complete his three wicket haul (3/27 in 6 overs) and leave PTCC struggling at 107/5 after 22.5 overs.
Reolin Oinam then joined the party by removing Abit Hijam (13) and Shapam Kenjit (15) to walk away with the bowling figures of 2/25 in 5 overs and pile further pressure on PTCC.
Md Aqeel then removed Gemson Mutum for the 8th wicket and reduced PTCC to 144/8 after 29.2 overs.
In reply, Loktongbam Santosh took on PTCC bowlers despite losing two of his partners and clobbered 10 fours and 1 six before he was removed by Naorem Victory removed him in the 11th over on 67.
From 91/3 in 14.3 overs, Muhammed Al Bashid carried forward the chase and took the team to 156/4 with an unbeaten knock of 57 runs alongside Robinson Sougaijam (7 not out).
Naorem Victory returned with the best bowling figures of 2/33 for PTCC as Sohail Akram and Gemson Mutum picked a wicket apiece.
Eventually, L Santosh was adjudged man of the match.