Sovima, 1 April (MTNews): Rain played spoilsport on Saturday as both semifinal matches on both the grounds were interrupted. The semi-final match played between Nagaland and Meghalaya at Sovima Cricket Ground had to be abandoned because of soggy ground conditions. The other semifinal match played at the Nagaland Cricket Stadium between Manipur and Sikkim was able to resume at 01:15PM but it was reduced to 35 overs per side.
Nagaland vs Meghalaya
After winning the toss, Meghalaya sent the Nagaland team in to bat first. Nagaland team were reeling at 58 runs having lost 3 wickets in 20.4 overs when the rains interrupted the match. Hem Bahadur Chetri was playing on 22 runs along with Hokaito Zhimomi on 4 runs after having lost Yugandhar Singh for 5 runs, Jonathan Rongsen for 9 runs and Sedezhalie Rupreo for 11 runs.
The match could not restart as the soggy ground made it impossible for the match to progress further. The on-field umpires and the match officials decided to abandon the match and it was decided to have a rematch on Sunday at 08:45 AM where the venue will be shifted from Sovima Cricket Ground to Nagaland Cricket Stadium.
Manipur vs Sikkim
In the other semifinals played at Nagaland Cricket Stadium, Manipur won the toss and elected to chase. Sikkim after being sent in to bat first had an unfortunate start with their top batting order in the form of Anwesh 8 runs, Arun Chettri 0 run, Nilesh Lamichanay 6 runs, Pranesh Chettri 0 run and Palzor Tamang 8 runs getting out cheaply without troubling the score board. It was Ashish Thapa who steadied the innings and played an important knock of 41 runs, ably supported by Lee Yong Lepcha 22 runs, Ankur Malik 26 runs and Tarun Sharma 17 runs to help lift the total to a competitive 144 runs.
The match had to be stopped due to rain in the 23rd over with Sikkim batting at 75 runs losing 5 wickets and in the crease were Ashish Thapa batting on 28 runs and Lee Yong Lepcha batting on 14 runs. When play resumed after the rain break, both the players were able to stitch up their 50 runs partnership in 75 balls.
Rajkumar Rex Singh and Bisworjit Singh were brilliant with the bowling once again as they scalped 3 wickets each while Jotin Pheiroijam and Bikash Singh hooked up a wicket each for the Manipur side.
Coming in for the run chase, the Manipur batters had an easy sail as their batsman stood out on the occasion and displayed great maturity to chase down the target of 145 in just 28.3 overs. It was an overall teamwork batting display for Manipur as Karnajit Yumnam 18 runs, Md. Basir Rahman 22 runs, Longjam Ronald 16 runs, Langlonyamba 43 runs, Jotin Pheiroijam 15 runs, Pukhrambam 9 runs and Kishan Laishram 15 runs all contributed for an easy smooth sail to win the match comfortably and book their place in the finals of the 1st NECDC Interstate Senior Men’s Friendship Tournament to be played on 3 April.