Ashish Thapa becomes the first Sikkimese to score a hundred in Ranji Trophy

Sikkim played in its second match of the ongoing Ranji Trophy at Eden Gardens, Kolkata against Bihar from 24^th February to 27^th February 2022. The match which seemed dominated by Bihar in its first innings turned the other way around which saw Sikkim take the first-innings lead gaining 3 point(s) and drawing the match.

Sikkim won the toss and chose to field first. In the first innings, Bihar declared their innings with a total of 431 runs for the loss of 9 wickets. Sikkim bowlers were spearheaded by Palzor Tamang who took 3 wickets, Nitesh Kr. Gupta took 2 wickets and 1 wicket each by Karthik C.A, Lee Yong Lepcha & Sumit Singh.

Sikkim struggled a bit by losing early wickets but Liyan Khan took the charge by scoring 75 runs along with the captain Kranthi Kumar with 287 runs and local boy Ashish Thapa with 151 runs. Sumit Singh’s 56 runs and Ankur’s 50 runs also added to the total for a mammoth score of 673 runs for the loss of 8 wickets and declaring its innings with a lead of 242 runs.

Day 4 saw the second innings of Bihar for a score of 263 runs for the loss of 3 wickets. Karthik C. A took 2 wickets and Sumit took 1 wicket.

It is a big achievement for our local player Mr. Ashish Thapa who scored a century-plus against a strong team like Bihar and became the first player in the history of Sikkim Cricket to score 151 runs in first-class cricket.

Lobzang G Tenzing, President of SICA said it is a great delight to know that SICA seniors declare against a strong team like Bihar. My special congratulations to Ashish Thapa being the first Ranji centurion from Sikkim. My compliments to our guest player Kranti Kumar for showing his true class. Kartik, Liyan, Sumit, Ankur, Lee, Palzor and Nitesh gave a great contribution to the team success”.

Sikkim will be playing its next match against Manipur from 3^rd March to 6^th March 2022 at JU Second Campus, Salt Lake, Kolkata.