Col CK Nayudu Trophy Aziz Mirza picks five, Naesh Hussain hits ton in drawn match against Arunachal Pradesh

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Nov 5 : Manipur rode on Aziz Mirza’s fifer and Naesh Hussain’s 193-ball 116 to take a 78-run innings lead in the third rain affected Col CK Nayudu Trophy Plate Group tie against Arunachal Pradesh before the game ended in a draw.
Manipur won the toss and asked Arunachal Pradesh to bat first at Gokulbhai Somabhai Patel Stadium, Nadiad.
Aziz Mirza produced an exceptional bowling performance to pick five wickets to help Manipur bundle out Arunachal Pradesh for first innings total of 208 runs in 69.5 overs.
Amarjeet Sharma 92 off 130 (9 fours, 1 six) and T Jacob 52 off 96 (8 fours) were the leading scorers for Arunachal Pradesh in this innings that also saw Kangujam Ringku (2/50) and Joyhenba (2/37) sharing four wickets and Kongbrailatpam Kalyan Sharma (1/18) claiming a wicket.
After the innings break, Manipur lost Champion (4) cheaply to Aman Pisa but skipper Sanjit and incoming Naesh Hussain forged a significant partnership of 73 runs off 146 balls for the second wicket before Sanjit was undone on 42 by Leki Tsering.
Naesh Hussain then lifted the innings by gathering another partnership of 64 runs off 87 balls with Aziz Mirza who was removed for 29 runs by T Muri in the 45th over as the scoreboard read 158.
Naesh Hussain anchored well to hit his century on the back of 13 boundaries, 10 fours and 3 sixes, and took Manipur past Arunachal Pradesh’s first innings total before he holed out to T Muri off the bowling of Techi Dol for the 7th wicket in the 71st over as the scoreboard read 269.
Rohit was unbeaten on 40 off 45 balls as Manipur declared the first innings at 287/8 to take a 78 run lead this morning.
Resuming the match, Arunachal Pradesh were 114/5 after 46 overs of their second innings when the two captains shook their hands.
Joyhenba also who picked two wickets in the first innings, was also able to claim two wickets in the second innings (/2/12) as Aziz Mirza (1/9), K Kalyan (1/21), and K Ringku (1/35) registered a wicket apiece.
Manipur will play Nagaland in the next match from January 23 at Gokulbhai Somabhai Patel Stadium, Nadiad.