Nilesh Lamichaney
Nilesh Lamichaney. Image - Northeast Now

Nilesh Lamichaney, the captain of Sikkim Cricket Team, has become the first cricketer from Sikkim to score a century in first-class (List A) cricket on Friday during Vijay Hazare Trophy tournament against Arunachal Pradesh during the  Round 3, plate division match at Vadodara in Gujarat.

Lamichaney scored 123 off 145 balls, including 2 sixes and 11 fours, and had a vital opening partnership of 99 runs with Faizan Khan, who scored 47 runs.

He is also the only and first player from Sikkim, who has scored centuries in all the categories he has represented Sikkim.

While playing for U 15 team against Bengal, he scored 101 runs, 111 runs against Kerala playing for U 17 team, 124 runs and 147 runs against Manipur and Nagaland respectively while playing for U 19 team, stated a Sikkim Cricket Association press release.

The release informed that Sikkim, being the only team in the tournament playing with all local players, has made a good comeback in the second match after losing the first match a day before.

Though Sikkim lost both the matches, but gave a tough fight against the opponent in the match, it added.

Nilesh said, “We have faith in the team and after observing the overall performance in the last match, we believe, we can comeback even stronger. We need to work hard and learn from the past two games of what improvements we need further.”

“It is a team game and I am happy that my century helped the team to victory,” he added.

SCA president Lobzang G Tenzing congratulated Nilesh for playing a captain’s knock and being the first player from Sikkim to score a century in senior level tournament under Bharat Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Sagar Chhetri is Northeast Now Correspondent in Gangtok. He can be reached at: [email protected]