Cooch Behar Trophy Plate Group Robinson hits ton, Kaiku picks 12 as Manipur steamroll Arunachal Pradesh by 232 runs

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Nov 19 : Sougaijam Robinson shone with a century and Saikhom Kaiku enjoyed a match haul of 12 wickets as Manipur kicked off Cooch Behar Trophy Plate Group campaign with a 232-run victory over Arunachal Pradesh at Gokulbhai Somabhai Patel Stadium, Nadiad in Gujarat.
Manipur elected to bat first and posting a remarkable first innings total of 424 runs in 107.1 overs riding on Robinson’s 223-ball 168 (21 fours and 3 sixes), Danish’s 89-ball 61, Kaiku’s unbeaten 37, Thokchom Lucky’s 39-ball 38 before bundling out Arunachal Pradesh for 365 runs in 114.3 overs as Kaiku (5/53 in 22.3 overs) and Yumnam Chingkhei Nganba (2/38 in 14 overs) shared a bulk of 7 crucial wickets to enjoy a 59-run lead.
Manipur scored another 258 runs in 65.2 overs of the second innings thanks to Warokpam Max’s 152-ball 96 and Irungbam Tonton’s 61-ball 34, to give Arunachal Pradesh a target of 318 runs.
Kaiku, who enjoyed a fifer, further improved his performance to enjoy a seven-for (7/23 in 15.2 overs) to help Manipur dismantle Arunachal Pradesh for 85 runs in the second innings. Naesh also picked two wickets in this innings to finish with a match haul of 3 wickets.
For Arunachal Pradesh, Ayush Singh scored a 205-ball 131 as Surya Singh added 99 off 184 balls in the first innings before Aditya 25 and Nabam Rikam 28 emerged top two scorers in the chase.
Surya Singh (5/113 in 38 overs) and Nini Mibang (3/117 in 35 overs) shared 8 wickets in Manipur’s first innings before Surya Singh bagged 4 wickets (4/56) and Nini Mibang picked three wickets (3/90) in the second innings.
Manipur will play Meghalaya in the next match of the U-19 men’s First Class Cricket Tournament conducted by the BCCI from November 23 at Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Anand.