U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy: Meghalaya take 1st innings lead after Mrinal, Santhosh heroics
Manas, who began the day on 49 not out, added 93 with No. 9 batter Santhosh to take Meghalaya within a touching distance of their opponents.
SHILLONG:
A stubborn fight by Mrinal Das and PM Santhosh enabled Meghalaya to take a first innings lead against Manipur on the second day of their U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy Plate Group match in Bhubaneshwar, on November 30.
Resuming on 86/6 and still trailing Manipur's first innings score of 197, Meghalaya lost overnight batter Bharat Gurung for 7, leaving them struggling on 92/7.
However, Das, who began the day on 49 not out, added 93 with No. 9 batter Santhosh to take Meghalaya within a touching distance of their opponents. Das thoroughly deserved a century but got out at 96 - an innings that included 16 boundaries.
Santhosh carried on, hitting 46 in a final wicket stand with Manish Sharma (15*), as Meghalaya ended their innings at 230 and took a lead of 33 runs. Santhosh was the last man out, falling for 71 (13 fours). Both he and Das were dismissed by Kadamjit, Manipur's star bowler, who finished with figures of 7/45.
Manipur overturned that deficit with their opening pair, who made exactly 50 for the first wicket. Sharma (3/73), Raghav Magotra (2/48) and Rohit Yadav (1/22) were among the leading wickets takers for Meghalaya who were denied by Jotin Pheiroijam, who went on to score his second century of the match.
Manipur were 203/6 at stumps on the second day, leading by 170, with Pheiroijam on 101 not out; he had made 131 in yesterday's first innings.
If Meghalaya want to restrict Manipur to a chaseable target, they have to dismiss Pheiroijam early on the penultimate day.
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