Patna: Le lotta! This proverb is widely used in Bihar’s local dialect. The nearest meaning in English is making mess of something or to handle something in a way that causes it to be ruined. The proverb more or less fits with the performance of Bihar team in the current Ranji Trophy season. Just a few days ago in Shillong, Bihar lost a win-win match against Meghalaya by four wickets and on today (Friday, January 6, 2023), they failed to gain vital first innings lead against Sikkim when they were just 19 runs away with three wickets in hands on the fourth day of their Ranji Trophy match at Urja Stadium in Patna.
Resuming on 139 for 7 on the day four with Sakibul Gani batting on 55 not out and Veer Pratap Singh who also has the potential to bat well, it was expected that Bihar would surpass Sikkim’s first innings score of 157. But it did not happen as Gani just added two runs to his overnight score and was clean bowled by Plazor. Bihar lost its eighth wicket at 141. The more drama was in store for Bihar innings. Veer Pratap Singh and Shivam S Kumar added 16 runs for the 9th wicket and when Bihar levelled the score with Sikkim’s first innings—157, Shivam S Kumar was bowled by Plazor-157/9. In the very next over Veer Pratap Singh was bowled by Sumit as Bihar first innings ended at 157. It was sheer a bad luck or the incapability of the batsmen that Bihar could not take a single run to take vital first innings lead over Sikkim.
In the second innings, Sikkim made 122 for the loss of four wickets till the end of the day’s play. The match was drawn and declared tie on the basis of the first innings. Both the team earned one point each from this match. Sikkim were in the third place in the plate group with two wins, one loss and one draw while Bihar were in the fourth place with one win, one defeat and one draw. Bihar will play their next match against Mizoram from January 10 in Nadiad.
Scoreboard
Sikkim first innings: 157
Bihar first innings: Mahrour b Sumit 13; Yashaswi Rishav b Sumit 2; Bipin Saurabh (wk) b Sumit 0; Babul Kumar b Sumit 11; S Gani c Arun b Palzor 57; Sachin Kumar Singh c Arun b Palzor 17; Pratap b Palzor 16; Ashutosh Aman (c) lbw Sumit 18; Veer Pratap Singh b Sumit 6; Shivam S Kumar b Palzor 10; Abhijeet not out 0.
Extras ( b 0, lb 6, w 0, nb 1 ) 7
TOTAL: 157 (39.3 OVERS)
FALL OF WICKSTS: 1 – 6 (Yashaswi Rishav, 3.2 ov); 2 – 6 (Bipin Saurabh, 3.3 ov); 3 – 21 (Mahrour, 5.4 ov); 4 – 30 (Babul Kumar, 7.2 ov); 5 – 63 (Sachin Kumar Singh , 16.1 ov); 6 – 108 (Pratap, 27.4 ov); 7 – 139 (Ashutosh Aman, 35.2 ov); 8 – 141 (S Gani, 36.2 ov); 9 – 157 (Shivam S Kumar, 38.3 ov); 10 – 157 (Veer Pratap Singh, 39.3 ov)
Bowling: Palzor 19-3-65-4; Sumit 15.3-3-63-6; Bijay 5-0-23-0
Sikkim second innings: Arun (wk) c & b Shivam S Kumar 22; Pankaj lbw Abhijeet 5; Nilesh Lamichaney c S Gani b Pratap 11; Anwesh not out 50; Ashish Thapa (c) lbw Pratap 5; Sumit not out 24
Extras ( b 1, lb 3, w 1, nb 0 ) 5
TOTAL: 122/4 (47.0 OVERS)
Did Not Bat: Lee Yong Lepcha ,Md Saptula ,Tarun Sharma ,Palzor ,Bijay
FALL OF WIKCETS: 1 – 7 (Pankaj, 6.4 ov); 2 – 24 (Nilesh Lamichaney, 13.5 ov); 3 – 66 (Arun, 33.6 ov); 4 – 96 (Ashish Thapa, 43.4 ov)
Bowling: Abhijeet 12-5-25-1; Veer Pratap Singh 8-5-8-0; Pratap 7-2-31-2; S Gani 3-0-11-0; Ashutosh Aman 5-2-8-0; Shivam S Kumar 8-2-29-1; Sachin Kumar Singh 4-1-6-0.
