Hosts Odisha beat minnows Tripura by 34 runs to start their campaign on winning note in the East Zone Inter-State T20 Tournament at Barabati Stadium here on Wednesday. Middle-order batsman Aravind Singh and left-arm spinner Jayanta Behera put up impressive performance for the home team, hitting a 32-ball 49 and bagging three wickets for 19 runs respectively.
Chasing 152 for victory, Tripura were restricted to 117 for eight despite a fine 68 by opener Rakesh Solanki. Loss of five wickets in space of seven runs cost the visitors dear after they started the chase with a positive intent, reaching 106 for three.
Earlier electing to bat, Odisha overcame a shaky start to make 151 for eight. Among other notable scorers, vice-captain Govind Podder hit 31 and wicketkeeper P Roshan Kumar Rao contributed a cameo 24, while making his debut. Odisha, who gained four points from the convincing win, will next meet Assam on Friday.
SCOREBOARD
ODISHA: Bikas Pati c Takawale b Sarkar 0, Pratik Das b Saha 14, Govind Podder b Majumder 31, Anurag Sarangi c Takawale b Majumder 3, Biplab Samantaray c Acharjee b Majumder 6, Aravind Singh (run out) 49, Deepak Behera c U Bose b Saha 13, P Roshan Kumar Rao (run out) 24, Suryakant Pradhan (not out) 2; Extras (nb-3, w-6) 9
Total (8 wkts; 20 overs) 151
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-41, 3-50, 4-59, 5-60, 6-94, 7-134, 8-151
Bowling: M Mura Singh 4-0-40-0, Ajoy Sarkar 3-0-21-1, Banti Roy 2-0-23-0, Tushar Saha 4-0-26-2, Sanjoy  Majumder 3-0-10-3, Kamal Das 3-0-20-0, Bappa Das 1-0-11-0
TRIPURA: Udiyan Bose b Mangaraj 12, Rakesh Solanki c Rao b J Behera 68, Yogesh Takawale c Podder b Mangaraj 20, Mura Singh b P Das 0, Bappa Das c Samanataray b J Behera 3, Sanjoy Majumder 3, Kaushal Acharjee c Podder b D Behera 2, Banti Roy b J Behera 1, Tushar Saha (not out) 3, Kamal Das (not out) 0; Extras (b-1, nb-1, w-3) 5
Total (8 wkts; 20 overs) 117
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-81, 3-82, 4-106, 5-107, 6-111, 7-111, 8-113
Bowling: Suryakant Pradhan 3-0-21-0, Deepak Behera 4-0-18-2, Alok Mangaraj 3-0-22-2, Biplab Samantaray 2-0-8-0, Pratik Das 4-0-27-1, Jayant Behera 4-0-19-3

BENGAL SUFFER UPSET: A breezy unbeaten knock of 78 by Debabrata Das went in vain as last year`s East Zone table-toppers Bengal lost to Assam by 18 runs in another match of the day. The win fetched Assam four points, while Bengal drew blank.
Put into bat, Assam made a healthy total of 189 for six and then restricted Bengal to 171 for nine. Das hit six fours and five sixes in his 40-ball unbeaten knock.
Brief score: Assam 189/6 in 20 overs (Sibsankar Roy 48, Syed Mohammad 31 n.o, Pallav Kumar Das 25, Amit Sinha 24, Swarupam Purkayastha 24; Aamir Gani 2/34) beat Bengal 171/9 in 20 overs (Debabrata Das 78 n.o, Abu Nechim Ahmed 2/27, Pritam Das 2/33) by 18 runs.