Bihar thrash Manipur, inch closer to quarters

Bihar thrashed Manipur by eight wickets to record their sixth win and inch closer to the quarterfinal berth in the Vijay Hazare Trophy domestic one-dayers here Thursday.

Chasing a paltry 173, Bihar cruised to the target in 29.1 overs with Babul Kumar (100 not out from 95 balls; 15x4, 1x6) and MD Rahmatullah (50 not out from 48 balls; 8x4) steering their innings in a plate group fixture.

Back from cricket exile after nearly 18 years, Bihar now have 26 points from seven matches, with one being abandoned, as they face Mizoram in their final plate group league fixture at Vadodara on October 8.

Earlier, Yashpal Singh waged a lone battle, scoring 134 not out of Manipur's 172/8 after they opted to bat at the GS Patel Stadium here.

Rehan Khan (3/39) and Anunay Singh (2/24) rattled Manipur's start and the latter also effected a run-out to reduce them to 37/5 inside 21 overs.

Yashpal was the lone batsman standing for Manipur as they were restricted to 172/8 in the stipulated 50 overs.

In another match, Meghalaya rode on Punit Bisht's 149 from 106 balls to beat Sikkim by 149 runs at the Shastri Maidan in Anand.

Megahalay piled up 315/5 with skipper Jason Lamare giving a fine support to Bisht in a 145-run partnership for the third wicket.

At the Motibaug ground in Vadodara, Akshay Jain bagged 5 for 13, while off-spinner Fabid Ahmed returned with excellent figures of 9-3-8-4 as Puducherry skittled out Arunachal Pradesh for 95 in 34.1 overs on way to a seven-wicket win.

Summarised scores: