Shillong, Oct 15: It went right down to the wire, but Meghalaya held their nerve to clinch a thrilling 7-run victory over Nagaland in the plate group of the U-19 Men’s Vinoo Mankad Trophy in Chandigarh today.

After being put in to bat, Meghalaya were bowled out for 155 in 48.3 overs, before their bowlers staged a spirited performance to dismiss Nagaland for 148 in 49.1 overs, sealing a memorable win in a low-scoring encounter.

Nagaland were in deep trouble early at 38/6, thanks to a brilliant spell by Apandanka Marak, who returned impressive figures of 4/18 in 10 overs. However, Nagaland captain Aloto Sumi mounted a strong resistance, scoring 66 off 139 balls, and shared a vital 61-run seventh-wicket stand with Anurag Gupta (13 off 54) to keep his team in contention.

Anurag was eventually removed by Mewankitbok Kharpuri (1/33 in 10 overs), and Benedict Jones Makdoh (2/16 in 10) struck twice soon after to dismantle the lower order. Aloto continued to fight on, adding another 23 runs with No. 11 Ravi Kumar Ray, before being run out by Rudra Singh Rathor off the first ball of the final over — ending Nagaland’s chase just short of the target.

Earlier, Dipayan Nandi top-scored for Meghalaya with 52 off 91 deliveries, while Angkit Tamang made a patient 38 off 107. The duo rescued their side from 30/3 with a steady 93-run partnership for the fourth wicket. With boundaries hard to come by, both batsmen relied heavily on running between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking.

With this result, Meghalaya registered their second consecutive win in the tournament. They will take on Mizoram on Friday in their final round-robin match.