CHENNAI: Opener Jay Bista starred with a 61-ball 71 as Uttarakhand outplayed Manipur by seven wickets for their second consecutive win in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Plate Group here on Tuesday. Sent in to bat, Manipur lost the openers Narisingh Yadav (2) and Al Bashid Muhammed (4) by the sixth over and the rest of the batsmen struggled against a disciplined bowling attack.
Left-arm spinner Mayank Mishra was the best of the Uttarakhand bowlers, returning figures of 2 for 18 from 10 overs while Akash Madhawal (2/27) and experienced left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah (2/32) too picked up two wickets each.
In reply, Bista continued his good form with a knock of 71 (8 fours, 2 sixes) to follow up his 141 on Sunday against Meghalaya to set up the win. He added 113 runs for the first wicket with Kamal Singh (41) and set the platform for Uttarakhand's win.
Assam also notched up their second win, beating Arunachal Pradesh by five wickets to join Uttarakhand at the top of the standings with eight points. In another match, Mizoram went down by 29 runs to Nagaland despite tons by Pratik Desai (141) and Taruwar Kohli (108).
Brief Scores:
Manipur 148 for 9 in 50 overs (Jayanta Sagatpam 32, L Kishan Singha 29, Mayank Mishra 2/18) lost to Uttarakhand 152 for 3 in 23.1 overs (Jay Bista 71, Kamal Singh 41) by seven wickets.
Uttarakhand: 4 points, Manipur: 0.
Meghalaya 319 for 7 in 50 overs (Punit Bist 116, R Sanjay Yadav 73 not out) beat Sikkim 231 for 9 in 50 overs (Ashish Thapa 79, Robin Bist 59, Dippu Sangma 2/33) by 88 runs.
Meghalaya: 4 points, Sikkim: 0.
Arunachal Pradesh 222 for 7 in 50 overs (Rahul Dalal 123 not out) lost to Assam 226 for 5 in 36.4 overs (Sibsankar Roy 60 not out, Denish Das 59, Saahil Jain 48, Rakesh Kumar 4/58) by five wickets.
Assam: 4 points, Arunachal: 0.
Nagaland 347 for 9 in 50 overs (Stuart Binny 80, R Jonathan 62, Varte Kima 5/66) beat Mizoram 318 for 6 in 50 overs (Pratik Desai 141, Taruwar Kohli 108, KB Pawan 40, Nagaho 2/30) by 29 runs.
Nagaland: 4 points, Mizoram: 0.