Shillong (Meghalaya), Sep 30: With 3 runs to win off the last ball against Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya squeezed out a couple and thus the opening match of the 1st Senior Women’s Interstate Friendship T20 Tournament ended in a nail-biting tie at the Pahamsning Cricket Ground in Ri-Bhoi today.
The second match of the day saw Nagaland defeat Mizoram by 5 wickets and with 7.4 overs to spare.
The tournament is the initiative of the North East Cricket Development Council, the body that coordinates cricket-related activities among six regional states – Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.
Today was the inaugural day of the tournament, which also acts as a preparatory event for the BCCI domestic competitions in 2024-25 and the prized trophy was revealed in the presence of players, team officials, esteemed members of the NECDC, hosts Meghalaya Cricket Association, Ri-Bhoi District Cricket Association and others.
Arunachal won the toss in the Group A match and batted first but some excellent bowling from Meghalaya captain Debasmita Dutta (4/10 in 4 overs) and Ruby Chettri (3/13 in 4 overs) kept Arunachal down to 78/9 in their allotted 20 overs.
Even that was probably more than they should have gotten after being at 30/6 but a fine contribution of 17 not out from Sardam Ligu and 19 from Nabam got them extra precious runs.
Meghalaya then had to rely mainly on the batting of opener Monica Lyngdoh Phawa, who nearly carried her bat through the innings before being stumped in the final over when looking for a big hit. She made 37 from 65 balls, with six fours. It was a valuable knock but her dismissal at the end meant that Meghalaya could not quite reach victory and ended on 78/8 in 20 overs, with points evenly shared with Arunachal. Debasmita was named Player of the Match for her efforts.
Later, Mizoram won the toss in the Group B encounter against Nagaland and chose to bat but were dismissed for just 61 in 19.3 overs. Just two batters got into double figures – Felfeli Pautu (15) and Miriam L Hrahse (13) – while Elina Muru (2/7 in 4 overs) and Limatola Ao (2/9 in 4) were the pick of the Nagaland bowlers.
Alemienla then struck an unbeaten 30 at the top of the order to lead her side to a resounding victory, with Nagaland (62/5 in 12.2 overs) setting the benchmark that other teams will aim to meet.
Tomorrow, Manipur will take on Arunachal in Group A at 9am followed by Sikkim versus Nagaland in Group B at 12:30pm. Livestreaming will be provided on cricheroes.in.
