Shillong (Meghalaya), Oct 20: Meghalaya put past defeats behind them to register a 49-run victory against Arunachal Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament in Mohali today.
Meghalaya lost the toss and were made to bat first but they turned this to an advantage by piling on the runs, eventually posting 167/5 in their 20 overs.
Guest professional Chirag Khurana hit nine fours and a six on his way to a score of 73 off 61 deliveries. He and fellow opener Swarajeet Das (28 from 17) put on 67 for the first wicket in just 7.3 overs. Khurana then combined with fellow guest professional Punit Bisht (38 from 23) for a 53-run partnership for the third wicket.
In the chase, Meghalaya’s third guest professional Rajesh Bishnoi claimed 3/17 and Khurana 2/8 but the day surely belonged to Riboklang Hynniewta, who was making his senior team debut. The medium pacer took 2/19, including the valuable wicket of Doria (40), Arunachal’s top scorer. Thanks to these fine bowling efforts, Arunachal were restricted to 118/8 in their 20 overs, well short of the target.