Bhatia, Rawat tons rescue Uttarakhand

Rajat Bhatia and Saurabh Rawat led Uttarakhand's rearguard action with fighting centuries, taking their team to 290/5 against Sikkim in a top of the table Ranji Trophy Plate Group match here Tuesday.

Bhatia made 121 off 156 balls (15x4, 1x6) before becoming Ishwar Chaudhary's (3/81) third victim of the day.

Rawat remained unbeaten on 115 off 246 balls with the help of seven fours and three sixes as he along with the skipper shared 208 runs together to revive their innings from 38/4 in 12.5 overs.

Opting to field at their adopted home venue, KIIT Stadium, Sikkim got the early breakthrough with Chaudhary dismissing Uttarakhand opener Karanveer Kaushal (4) in the fifth over.

Bipul Sharma (1/67) then accounted for the experienced Vineet Saxena (19) followed by the wickets of Kartik Joshi (8) and Vaibhav Singh (5) as the Uttarakhand found themselves in a spot of bother in their first away match of the season.

Both the teams are one 13 points each with Sikkim leading the Plate table on net runrate.

In Shillong, Meghalaya's recruit from Delhi, Yogesh Nagar, cracked his second successive century in a 197-ball 166 (22x4, 2x6) while opener Raj Biswa also slammed a century (111 from 239 balls; 12x4) as the hosts notched up 338/5 against Nagaland.

Put in, Meghalaya were 26/2 inside 13 overs after losing JJ Lamare for a three-ball duck and Tarique Siddique for three.

Puneet Bisht then put on 40 runs for the third wicket with Biswa before being dismissed for 28.

Thereafter it was Nagar and Biswa who took control of the proceedings in a 231-run partnership to put Meghalaya in command.

The first day's play between hosts Puducherry and Bihar at the Siechem Ground was abandoned due to rain.

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