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The Times of India
The Times of India
Sport
Sudeshna Ghosh | TNN

Ranji Trophy: Bihar has Manipur on the mat

Langlonyamba Meitan Keishangbam will return to the crease on the final day of the Ranji Trophy Plate final knowing that he would have to lead Manipur from the front.

Needing 424 runs more in the second innings and six wickets in hand, it will be a tall task for Manipur to snatch a win at Moin-ul-Haq Stadium in Patna on Sunday.

At stumps on Day 4, the visitors were tottering on 107 for 4 and had skipper Keishangbam playing a staunch knock of 44, the highest so far by any of their batters in the innings.

Bihar, on the other hand, had another good day on the field as they rode a determined century from overnight batter Sachin Kumar, aided by important contributions towards the end of their second innings. Resuming on 156 for 6 on Saturday, Kumar's knock kept Manipur bowlers at bay as the home team added 179 runs with the remaining four wickets. They ended their innings on 335 to set Manipur a mammoth target of 531 runs to win the summit clash.

Skipper Ashutosh Aman played a supporting role to the in-form Kumar and scored a valuable half-century at No. 9 as Shivam Singh added another 45 runs before him.

L Kishan Singha, who had ended the third day's play with five wickets, added two more to his kitty on the day as he finished with a total of 11 wickets in the two innings.

Coming out for their second essay, Manipur lost their openers for 93 even as Kangabam Priyojit scored a promising 39. The pressure of the target looked to have got to the Manipur batters as they kept losing wickets and they lost the next two wickets for just 11 runs.

The onus of accumulating 424 runs on Day 5 will rest on the Manipur skipper as he will be back for the challenge with Bikash Singh on one.

Brief scores: Bihar 532 & 335 in 102 overs (S Kumar 132, A Aman 51; Singha 7/94). Manipur 337 & 107/4 in 34 overs (LM Keishangbam 44 batting, K Priyojit 39; Nawaz 5/82). Match to continue.

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