Dimapur, March 29 (EMN): Nagaland beat Mizoram by nine wickets in the inaugural match of the 1st North East Cricket Development Committee (NECDC) Interstate Friendship Senior Men's Tournament at Nagaland Cricket Stadium in Sovima, Chumoukedimaon Wednesday.
Nagaland edged past Mizoram with a convincing and comfortable win after Khrievitso Kense made a glorious performance with the ball by scalping three wickets, with three maiden overs and giving away only three runs in 4.2 overs. Mizoram’s only notable numbers on the board came from Joseph Lalthankhuma (12 runs) and Yikash Kumar (17 runs), who were the only two batsmen managing to reach a double-figure score. The rest of the Mizoram batsmen had a bad field day as the Nagaland bowlers tackled their batting line-up by taking wickets at regular intervals and not giving any opportunity for the Mizoram batsman to settle into the game.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]Tahmeed Rahman and Nagaho Chishi took two wickets each while Hoponkyu Sangtam, Imliwati, and Moakumzuk got one wicket each. In the second innings, Nagaland got off to a comfortable run chase as the opening duo of Hem Bahadur Chettri and Yugandhar Singh provided a solid start with both the batsmen finding the fence with ease and scoring 28 runs each. Mizoram bowlers did not have much to defend on the board and it was only Rinsangzela who managed to take the big scalp wicket of Hem Bahadur but the damage had already been done. Nagaland Captain Jonathan Rongsen was the next man walking into the party and he hammered a massive six to wind up the innings in favour of Nagaland.
Khrievitso Kense was awarded the man of the match, an update from Nagaland Cricket Association stated.
It may be mentioned that the 1st NECDC Interstate Friendship Senior Men's Tournament (limited overs match) hosted by the Nagaland Cricket Association (NCA) kicked off on March 29 and will continue till April 3. The tournament is being played at two different venues -- Nagaland Cricket Stadium and Sovima Cricket Ground.