In the previous five seasons, Nagaland NEVER beat a team apart from those from the North East. Could this change tomorrow?

It’s a tough challenge against Goa, but they’ve given themselves a solid base. In pursuit of 339, their openers D Nischalthe former Karnataka batter, and Sédezhalie Rupero have established an uninterrupted stand for a century.

Part of the reason they are in this position is that they bowled out Goa for 179 and came within 32 runs of their score. The game seemed to have slipped away from them as Goa took a huge lead by making 306, but the early overs helped Nagaland come back strongly.

There is quality in the upcoming stick. Rongsen Jonathan, the captain, has been playing for almost a decade. He plays club cricket in Bengaluru, has previously featured in the KPL and has also played for Railways. There is J Suchith, the former Karnataka all-rounder, who joined the squad this year in search of more opportunities.

Nischal himself was deprived of chances in Karnataka as the top spot was filled with Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, R Samarth and Manish Pandey occupying the top four.

If they can help Nagaland achieve this, they will be part of history.

Sampath Bandarupalliour stats expert, tells me they’ve won 11 games so far. Here is the breakdown:

Mizoram (2), Arunachal (4), Sikkim (3) and Manipur (2)