[caption id="attachment_212413" align="aligncenter" width="565"]
File photo of Jonathan Rongsen.[/caption]
Our Correspondent
Kohima, Oct. 14 (EMN): Jonathan Rongsen who led the Nagaland senior cricket team to its maiden entry into first class cricket tournament won five out of the eight matches in Vijay Hazare Trophy in Gujarat; thus making him the most successful skipper among the Northeast teams making their debut in Group D (plate) of BCCI domestic season.
During the month long tournament, Nagaland team managed to beat the neighboring states of Meghalaya, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Mizoram but narrowly lost to Uttrakhand, Puducherry, Bihar and couldn't qualify for the playoff.
Jonathan has been a regular start in the Karnataka Premier League and also the second highest run gatherer in KPL crossing the 1000 runs mark.
Despite being playing in Karnataka and the Railway for many years, he always had a dream to come back and play for the state. Speaking to
Eastern Mirror, Jonathan Rongsen with pride says he was proud to represent the state in the first class cricket. He said "nothing like representing our own state in the highest competitive tournament in India."
The 32 year old Jonathan was proud of his team and their contribution in the tournament, "our boys did the best they could" he said.
On being asked about areas where Nagaland cricket needs to be improved, he said "we Naga cricketers need to focus more in basic cricketing techniques to make our foundation stronger.
He said the interest of cricket in the state will eventually increase each year and more Nagas will play. The more cricketers in Nagaland, the better competition and also a better team, he said.
While the captain encouraged the youngsters in the state not to be a seasonal player but focus only in cricket throughout the year if they were to take cricket seriously.
Jonathan was optimistic that Nagaland cricket is growing very fast 'and in few years cricket will surely overtake football'.
In his debut for Vijay Hazare Trophy representing Nagaland team, he scored 211 runs, and took 3 wickets in eight matches. He scored his highest 89 runs against Puducherry but the team lost the match.
Team Nagaland will also be participating in the Ranji Trophy starting from Nov. 1, 2018 and the training session will begin from Oct. 15 onwards in Dimapur, he informed.
