Fighting centuries by vice-captain Govind Poddar and Aravind Kumar Singh went in vain as Odisha lost to Kerala by 44 runs in their opening two-day league match of the All-India Buchi Babu Invitational Cricket Tournament at Chennai today.
Chasing a stiff target of 412, Odisha were dismissed for 368. Govind (137 off 186 balls, 19x4) and Aravind (102 off 164 balls, 8x4, 2x6) put on 146 runs in the third-wicket stand to keep Odisha in the hunt for victory. But after the departure of the former, they lost wickets in regular intervals before being all out in 90.4 overs. Nidheesh M and Monish M shared the bowling honours Kerala, scalping three wickets each.
Earlier, a dashing knock of 160 by opening batsman Vishnu Vinod and a half-century each by Akshay Kodoth and Monish M enabled Kerala make an imposing total of 412 for nine. Captain Biplab Samantray was the top wicket-taker for Odisha, bagging three wickets for 60 runs, while Tukuna Sahu and Suryakanta Pradhan chipped in with two wickets apiece.
SCOREBOARD
KERALA: Vishnu Vinod c G Rout b T Sahu 160 (162b, 15x4, 8x6), Sachin Mohan lbw Samantray 22, Rahul P c H Das b Samantray 12, Akshay Kodoth c Poddar b T Sahu 61 (113b, 4x4), Basin Bin Hameed lbw Mangaraj 0, Monish M (not out) 67 (131b, 7x4, 1x6), Jafar Jamal b Samantray 34, Abdul Safar b S Pradhan 6, Abishek Mohan c Samantray b S Pradhan 12, Ahamed Farzeen b D Singh 8, Nidheesh M (not out) 12; Extras (b-2, lb-6, w-2, nb-7) 17
Total (9 wkts, 100 overs) 412
Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-65, 3-260, 4-261, 5-261, 6-316, 7-335, 8-348, 9-367.
Bowling: Suryakanta Pradhan 18-0-79-2, Alok Mangaraj 16-4-50-1, Biplab Samantray 18-3-60-3, Dhiraj Singh 23-4-101-1, Tukuna Sahu 12-1-73-2, Govind Poddar 13-4-41-0.
ODISHA: Girija Rout c Kodoth b Farzeen 27, Pratik Anurag Das c Kodoth b Nidheesh 1, Govind Poddar c Safar b Nidheesh 137 (186b, 19x4), Aravind Singh c Vinod b Safar 102 (164b, 8x4, 2x6), Biplab Samantray run out (Safar) 25, Abhilash Mallick c S Mohan b Safar 11, Haladhar Das (not out) 31, Tukuna Sahu c Kodoth b Nidheesh 10, Suryakanta Pradhan c&b Monish 7, Alok Mangaraj b Monish 1, Dhiraj Singh lbw Monish 0; Extras (b-2, lb-3, w-3, nb-8) 16.
Total (all out, 90.4 overs) 368
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-89, 3-235, 4-279, 5-296, 6-333, 7-354, 8-365, 9-368, 10-368
Bowling: Abishek Mohan 13-2-54-0, Nidheesh M 12-0-50-3, Abdul Safar 20-1-92-2, Ahamed Farzeen 9-1-37-1, Monish M 35.4-2-123-3, Vishnu Vinod 1-0-7-0.
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PHOTO: Odisha`s ton-makers Govind Poddar (Left) and Aravind Singh.