Hosts Odisha overcame a top-order batting disaster to crush Jharkhand by 47 runs in a league match of the East Zone Inter-State T20 Cricket Tournament at Barabati Stadium here on Saturday. This was the third win in a row for Odisha and they qualified for the All-India Super League of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Tournament.
Put into bat, Odisha got off to a nightmarish start, losing five wickets for 14 runs. However, a valiant half-century by Aravind Singh and his 97-run partnership for the sixth wicket with opener Anurag Sarangi helped them make a competitive total of 140 for seven.
Aravind cracked a 42-ball 58 with the help of six boundaries and two sixes, while Anurag remained unbeaten on 47 (53b, 4x4, 1x6). Chasing 141 for victory, Jharkhand lost wickets in regular intervals to be bowled out for 93.
Odisha captain Biplab Samantaray rocked the opposition innings, taking three wickets for nine runs, while pacer Alok Mangaraj and left-arm spinner Jayan Behera claimed picked up two wickets apiece.
This was the first defeat for Jharkhand, who now occupy the second position in league table with eight points from three matches. In the last two matches on Sunday, table-toppers Odisha will meet struggling Bengal and Jharkhand will take on Assam.
SCOREBOARD
ODISHA: Pratik Das b Singh 0, Anurag Sarangi (not out) 47, Govind Podder lbw b Singh 0, Biplab Samantray c Kishan b V Kumar 0, P Roshan Kumar Rao (run out) 0, Lagnajit Samal c K Singh b V Kumar 1, Aravind Singh c V Kumar b Nadeem 58, Deepak Behera c V Kumar b Nadeem 12, Suryakant Pradhan (not out) 13; Extras (lb-3, w-5, nb-1) 9
Total (7 wkts; 20 overs) 140
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-1, 3-2, 4-3, 5-14, 6-111, 7-127
Bowling: R Singh 4-0-22-2, Vikash Kumar 4-1-11-2, V Aaron 4-0-22-0, Kaushal Singh 2-0-17-0, S Ashraf 2-0-26-0, S Nadeem 4-0-39-2
JHARKHAND: Ishan Kishan (run out) 1, S Tiwary b Mangaraj 23, K Deobrat b Pradhan 1, Virat Singh b Samantray 8, I Jaggi c Podder b J Behera 13, S Nadeem c Rao b Samantray 2, Kaushal Singh b D Behera 19, S Ashraf b J Behera 6, V Aaron c Rao b Mangaraj 8, Vikash Kumar (not out) 1, R Singh b Samantray 1; Extras (b-4, lb-5, w-1) 10
Total (all out; 18.1 overs) 93
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-34, 3-34, 4-56, 5-58, 6-58, 7-64, 8-87, 9-92, 10-93
Bowling: Deepak Behera 3-0-25-1, Suryakant Pradhan 4-1-18-1, Alok Mangaraj 4-1-9-2, Biplab Samantray 3.1-0-9-3, Pratik Das 1-0-12-0, Jayant Behera 3-0-11-2
BENGAL POST FIRST WIN: Last year`s zonal champions Bengal ended their poor run in the ongoing zonal league, defeating minnows Tripura by 49 runs in another match of the day here at Barabati Stadium.
Riding on a half-century each by Sudip Chatterjee and Wriddhiman Saha, Bengal piled up an imposing total of 210 for four and then dismissed the opposition for 161. This was the first win in three matches for Bengal and third defeat in four outings for Tripura.
Brief score: Bengal 210/4 in 20 overs (Sudip Chatterjee 89, Wriddhiman Saha 62, Shreevats Goswami 45 n.o) beat Tripura 161 in 19 overs (Udiyan Bose 45, Swapan Das 28, Manisankar Murasingh 21; Amit Kuila 3/33, Aamir Gani 2/29, Manoj Tiwary 2/35) by 49 runs.
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PHOTO: Odisha players return after winning their league match against Jharkhand in Cuttack on March 28, 2015.