Sikkim Finish Ranji Campaign On Winning Note
The first Ranji Trophy Season for Sikkim Cricket Team comes to an end with Sikkim winning their last match against Arunachal Pradesh with 10 wickets. Sikkim won the toss and chose to field first and restricted the opponent to just 169 runs with Milind Kumar taking 5 wickets, Ishwar Chaudhary (3), Bipul Sharma and Lee Yong Lepcha 1 wickets each. Chasing the total in the first innings Sikkim made 262 runs giving the lead of 93 runs, of which Lee Yong made his first half-century on this season (58) runs, Milind (51), Bibek (37), Bipul (31), Jahan and Karma (27) each and Ashish (13). Again in the Second Innings brilliant bowling from team Sikkim ceased Arunachal to 109 runs, where Ishwar took 7 wickets, Bipul (2) and Milind (1) and gave an easy target to win which was concluded by Milind with 19 runs. Ishwar Chaudhary with 10 wickets in the match was announced “MAN OF THE MATCH”. Sikkim got 7 Point(s) for this win.
With the end of the Ranji Trophy Season 2018-19, Sikkim earns 27 Point(s) with 4 Wins against Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, 1 Draw with Meghalaya and 3 Loss against Bihar, Puducherry and Uttarakhand and is standing in the 5th position of the Plate Division ahead of Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.
Milind Kumar made history with his last knock of the season making his place at number 2 of the most runs of all time in a Ranji Trophy season beating Shreyas Iyer with 10 runs. He made 1,331 runs in 8 matches which are history in itself. He is also the top scorer of the season and is 432 runs ahead of Punit Bisht of Meghalaya. He scored 6 centuries and 4 half-centuries with 185 4s and 17 6s which is also a record of most 4s in a season.
Ishwar Chaudhary, the leading bowler of Sikkim took 51 wickets and is at 3rd position of most wickets of this Ranji Trophy season with 5 wickets haul five times and 4 wickets in an innings three times. He took 10 wickets in a match twice.
Captain Nilesh Lamichaney say, “It was a memorable journey playing first-class cricket for the first time under the guidance of one of the most experienced coach Sanjeev Sharma Sir and experience players Bipul, Ishwar and Milind. We learned many things from this journey and would like to thank SCA for giving us the opportunity to play first-class cricket of which we all dreamed of and also would like to thank Sanjeev Sir, who believed in me for leading the side. I would also like to thank trainer Abdul Sir, Manager and Support Staffs for their continuous support and keeping us fit the entire season and would like to congratulate the entire team for making a strong come back after Vijay Hazare. Hope to see more victories in future, especially in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy”.
“It is a proud moment for Sikkim Cricket as being playing Ranji trophy for the first time and ending 5th in the points table with 27 points. I would like to appreciate the SCA management for their support in building this wonderful team and getting outstanding professional players. The local players got to learn many things from this season and they equally contributed in all aspects of the game for bringing the team to this position. I am very happy with the performance of Nilesh, Ashish, Lee Yong, Jahan and Karma. I would like to congratulate Milind and Ishwar for their achievement and Bipul for all-around performance with 449 runs and 26 wickets. In the last 10 years of coaching this is the most discipline and best team I have coached and would like to thank the BCCI and SCA for giving me this opportunity”, says Coach Sanjeev Sharma.
On behalf of SCA, President Lobzang G. Tenzing would like to congratulate the Coach, Trainer, Physio, Manager and the entire team for the excellent performance in Ranji tournament. The guidance of the coach in bringing out the best in every individual member of the team has been truly extraordinary. The senior men and women teams have shown the way forward with their outstanding performance on and off the field.