Puneet Bisht cracked a career-best 135 before Abhay Negi bamboozled Arunachal Pradesh with a seven-wicket haul to power Meghalaya to a huge 256-run win in the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day cricket tournament here Monday.
In his third domestic match, Negi returned with extraordinary figures of 6-0-17-7 as Arunachal Pradesh batting caved in for 61 all-out in 26 overs at the Shastri Maidan here.
Chasing a huge 318 in a match reduced to 43-overs a side, only two Arunachal Pradesh batsmen -- opener Samrath Seth (15) and Song Tacho (16) -- could reach double digits with Negi wreaking havoc.
Earlier Arunachal Pradesh's decision to bowl backfired as Bisht smashed a 90-ball 135 (17x4, 4x6) while skipper Jason Lamare also chipped in with 42 off 54 balls in an entertaining 111-run third wicket stand.
After the duo's departure, Yogesh Nagar (56 not out from 46 balls; 5x4, 1x6) and Gurinder Singh (35 from 25 balls; 1x4, 2x6) featured in an unbroken stand of 82 in nine overs to push the total to 317/4 in 43 overs.
At Motibaug ground in Vadodara, medium pacer Deepak Dhapola (4/34) produced a spectacular bowling performance in his third domestic match to power Uttarakhand to a six-wicket win over Nagaland.
Dhapola rattled the Nagaland top three inside 10 overs as the northeastern outfit folded for 206/9 in the stipulated 50 overs after they were sent in by Uttarakhand skipper Rajat Bhatia.
Uttarakhand's chase began on an ominous note with former Delhi pacer Pawan Suyal reducing them to 0/2 in four balls but opener Vineet Saxena (43) and No 3 Vaibhav Panwar (63) stabilised the ship in a 109-run platform.
Later the Delhi veteran Bhatia (31 not out) and Saurabh Rawat (60 not out) steered the chase with three overs to spare.
