In the Cooch Behar Trophy match between Puducherry and Manipur, being played at Palmyra Cricket Ground, Puducherry, found the going tough right from the start. Having won the toss, Puducherry chose to bat first and lost the first three batsmen when the score was a paltry 15 on the board. As expected, Aryan Bangar plugged the flow of wicket in the company of NipunGaikwad to lift the score to a sigh of relief. NipunGaikwad scored a vital 33 off 50 balls with 9 fours and was out when the score was 73. Aryan Bangar scored a valuable 54 off 114 deliveries with 9 fours and was the seventh batsman to be dismissed when the score was 153. Then RishabBelavadiplayed the sheet anchor role and scored a patient 30 off 70 balls with 5 fours in the company of TamizhAzhagan, who scored 21 off 40 balls with two fours and one six. Immediately after RishabBelavadi’s dismissal, Puducherry lost the two tail endersRajaraman and Nitishkumar off successive deliveries and Puducherry was all out for 185 off 58.2 overs. For Manipur, Abhijeet took 6 for 38 off 19.2 overs, off which 6 were maiden overs while Vishal took 3 for 50 off 14 overs.
Arbaaz Uddin’s 5 wicket haul in vain
Having restricted the opponent for 185, Manipur started with confidence and found the going easy to post a total of 290 with a first innings lead of 105 runs.Abhijeeth scored 71 off 121 balls with 13 fours and Rex scored 50 off 76 balls with 8 fours and one six. For Puducherry, ArbaazUddin’s returned with a rich haul of 5 for 121 and Aryan Bangar’s 3 for 98 which we not sufficient enough to contain the visitors.
“Aryan Bangar, the lone guard of the fort”
In the second innings, after the fall of the NipunGaikwad for 39 off 30 balls with 8 fours, when the score was 75, there was no noteworthy partnership and Aryan Bangar, who held the fort at one end, could not find any support from the other end as wickets were falling frequently. When there was a ray of hope for recovery with a partnership of 89 runs for the eighth wicket, Nitishkumar was dismissed for 31off 65 balls with six fours and one six when the score was 192 and eventually Puducherry was all out for 202 off 54 overs. Aryan Bangarplayed a valiant knock to score 85 off 143 balls with nine fours and two sixes. For Manipur, Rex took 4 for 78 while Vishal took 3 for 47.
Requiring 98 to win, Manipur sailed through comfortably with Abhijeet scoring 58 off 53 balls with 10 fours, and won the match by six wickets and gained six points.
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