Sikkim, Uttarakhand secure successive wins

Deepak Dhapola returned with a match haul of 13 wickets as Uttarakhand secured their second straight victory in the Ranji Trophy Plate Group beating Manipur by eight wickets here Wednesday.

In Dimapur, Sikkim also registered their second win in their debut season beating hosts Nagaland by nine wickets.

Sikkim have 13 points along with Uttarakhand but the former occupy the pole position in the Plate Group on the basis of better net run-rate.

Dhapola, who ripped apart Manipur in the first innings with a 7/50, returned with 5/46 as he along with Sunny Rana, who bagged an identical 5/46.

Manipur had four ducks in their innings and with the wicket of skipper Yashpal Singh for 15 taken by Sunny Manipur slumped to 164/8, thus losing seven wickets for just 21 runs.

Manipur were eventually bowled out for 185 in the second essay, setting Uttarkhand a target of 95.

Uttarakhand lost opener Karanveer Kaushal (18), No 3 Vaibhav Bhatt (27) but Vineet Saxena remaining unbeaten on 32 to steer them home in 17.5 overs to help them bag six points.

Uttarakhand had beaten Bihar with a bonus point in their last match here with Dhapola claiming 6/13 and 3/48.

In Dimapur, Sikkim were set a paltry target 79 as skipper Nilesh Lamichaney remained unbeaten on 33 alongside Ashish Thapa (27 no) to win in 25.4 overs.

Former Delhi batsman Milind Kumar was their star player with second successive double century that gave them a 195-run first innings lead.

Nagaland put up a strong show in their second essay with KB Pawan's 134 and Imliwati Lemtur's 61 as they finished at 273 in their second innings.

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