Gujarat piles up 294/3 on opening day of U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy
DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 14: On a day that Nagaland scripted history by hosting the first ever BCCI-endorsed game, Gujarat batsmen collected 294 runs for the loss of three wickets while batting first against the hosts on the opening day of the U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy at Nagaland Cricket Stadium, Sovima, Dimapur on Monday.
The hosts are the Associate & Affiliate (A&A) team comprised of players from Meghalaya, Arunachal, Sikkim, Manipur, Nagaland and Bihar. The team has four players from Nagaland.
As many as 91 overs were bowled on the day. Gujarat’s Het hit his way to an unbeaten 147. Akash, the hosts’ opening bowler took the first wicket, in the opening over when he had VA Solanki caught by Harsh for a 5-ball duck.
Gujarat’s SS Patel missed out on a century after he was out leg before to Arbin Singh at 96. He stitched a 57-run partnership with opener R Vaghela, who was out after scoring 38.
Centurion Het and Patel then went on to amass 217 runs for the third wicket. At stumps, Het and KD Patel, still on nought, were at the crease. By then, Gujarat had built a skyscraper of a total at 294/3. For A&A, the other wicket was scalped by Anmol Bonny.
Before the match, president of the Nagaland Cricket Association and MP Lok Sabha, Neiphiu Rio who was the chief guest in the pre-match function extended appreciation to the BCCI and to board president Anurag Thakur. He assured the board of all support and called upon the BCCI to put more impetus on development of cricket in the northeast region. Rio is also the chairman of North East Cricket Development Committee.
Secretary of Nagaland Cricket Association, Abu Metha who is also member secretary of the northeast committee, said that the doorway to bigger achievements was now open and Nagaland has become a participating and contributing member of the Indian cricket family.A team of senior BCCI officials led by match referee Uday Naik, a former first class and Ranji cricketer is stationed at Dimapur to conduct the match as per BCCI norms and regulations. The match is being covered by a team of video analysts and scorers who are linking the match live on the BCCI website along with all other domestic matches.
The A&A team are being managed by a team of senior professionals that includes coaches, trainers, physiotherapist, video analyst and manager.
The team will play against Saurashtra, Hyderabad, Jarkhand, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh during the tournament.
The Nagaland Cricket Stadium, Sovima, Dimapur has been approved to host BCCI level matches after it was inspected by officials of the board’s pitches and grounds committee. The board president Anurag Thakur along with chairman of the New Area Development Committee, Abhishek Dalmiya also visited the facilities in Nagaland and found it suitable to host national level matches. The Nagaland Cricket Stadium has also been included in the list of BCCI venues.
Cooch Behar Match Day-I
Stumps Day 1: Gujarat - 294/3 in 90.6 overs (K D Patel 0*, Het 147*)
