Bihar teen sensation Malay Raj has become cynosure of all eyes with his magnificent spell which bundled Arunachal Pradesh to a ridiculously low score of 83 in the ongoing Vijay Hazare trophy. In reply, Bihar earned a facile victory with six wickets to spare.
The 18-year-old Malay snared a fifer while conceding 38 runs in his 10 overs spell. This was Malay’s best bowling figures so for in the domestic circuit.
The Patna-born right arm medium pacer was well complimented by his apprentices in the form of Sachin Kumar, who returned with an impressive figure of three wickets for six runs, and Sakibul Gani, who scalped two wickets for 29 for the winning side.
The Arunachal Pradesh batting line never looked settled since the word go as Malay sent the Arunachal Pradesh opener Ngurang Tana to pavilion for a golden duck in the very first bowled. He followed it up with the wickets of Akash Singh (8) and and captain Techi Neri (7) in quick succession. Gani then dismissed Suraj Tayam for a duck and Nazeeb Saiyed for 4 runs.
In the middle, Rajesh Bishnoi tried his best to bolster his side’s innings as he was the lone scorer with 25 runs but didn’t get the support from the other end. It was just not the day for Arunachal Pradesh as the entire team succumbed to Bihar fabulous bowling line-up.
Batting second, Bihar batters initially looked out of touch as they were down with three wickets at the score of 20 but Pratyush Singh (28 not out) and Mangal Mahrour (21 not out) together steadied the boat. They stitched a 41-run partnership and made the light work of Arunachal bowlers to ensure an easy six-wicket win.
From the losing side, Bishnoi was the only bowler who impressed with a modest spell of three wickets for 24. During his spell he got the scalp of Kumar Aditya (2 off 15), Washim Ashrar (10 off 32) and Kumar Rajnish (0).
Bihar is currently sitting third followed by Tripura and Meghalaya in the Plate group.
