Milind hits double century to put Sikkim in command against Nagaland

Continuing his impressive form, former Delhi batsman Milind Kumar struck his second consecutive double century to put Sikkim on top against Nagaland in a Ranji Trophy Plate group fixture here Tuesday.

Resuming on his overnight score of 78 in team total of 120/5, Milind hit a stroke-filled 224 from 215 balls (31x4, 3x6) to steer Sikkim to 374 in 82.5 overs.

Sikkim then reduced Nagaland to 97/5 in their second innings with Bipul Sharma and Pawan Suyal claiming two wickets apiece to take their side closer to a second successive bonus point victory.

The home side still need 95 runs to avoid an innings defeat.

Earlier, Milind, who hit a career-best 261 in Sikkim's innings and 27-run win over Manipur in Kolkata in their last round match, shared 174 runs with Bipul Sharma (90) to take a big first innings lead.

Milind batted with the lower order batsmen, adding further 78 runs before being dismissed by Tahmeed Rahman.

For Nagaland, left-arm medium pacer Pawan Suyal claimed 7/108.

In Dehradun, Manipur fought back after conceding a 91-run first innings lead to Uttarakhand with Lakhan Rawat overcoming a first innings failure to post an unbeaten 81.

At close, Manipur were 143/1 with a lead of 52 runs.

Earlier, Uttarakhand resumed the day at 123/5 but managed to add 105 runs for the remaining five wickets on day two with skipper Rajat Bhatia scoring 61 off 63 balls.

Vaibhav scored 54 while opener Karanveer Kaushal made 45 as Uttarakhand ended their first innings at 228.

For Manipur, Thokchom Singh (4/50) Bishworjit Konthoujam (4/68) did the main damage.

In reply, Rawat put on a stand of 92 runs with Prafullomani Singh for the opening wicket.

Dhapola though broke the stand claiming Prafullomani for 30, but one down batsman Priyojit K made a dogged unbeaten 23 in their unbroken 51 runs for the second wicket to give the team some hope.

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