The campaign of Odisha in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 Tournament ended on a disappointing note as they lost to Pondicherry by six wickets in their fifth and last Elite Group-A match at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow today.

This was the fourth defeat in a row for Odisha and they bowed out of the tournament, finishing fifth in the six-team group with four points, which were earned from their win over Goa in the opening match. Under new coach Wasim Jaffer and new captain Rajesh Dhuper the team failed to live up to expectations.

Put into bat by Pondicherry captain Rohit Damodaran, Odisha made a modest total of 132 for seven. Subhranshu Senapati was the top scorer with a 30-ball 39. Subodh Bhati caused biggest damage to the Odisha innings, capturing four wickets.

In reply, Pondicherry rode on an unbeaten half-century by Paras Dogra to win the match comfortably, losing four wickets in the process. B Shiva and Harshit Rathod made their T20 debut for Odisha in this match.

SCORECARD

ODISHA: Rajesh Dhuper (CW) st Karthik b Sharma 19, Sandeep Pattanaik c Dogra b Bhati 1, Subhranshu Senapati c Bhati b Udeshi 39, Pratik Das c Fabid Ahmed (Sub) b Bhati 14, Abhishek Yadav c&b Sharma 12, Abhishek Raut c Fabid Ahmed (Sub) b Bhati 18, Prayas Singh c Dogra b Bhati 4, Bikash K Rout not out 12, Harshit Rathod not out 1; Extras (w-5, b-5, lb-2) 12
Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 132
Did not bat: B Shiva, Rajesh Mohanty
Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Pattanaik, 1.5 ov), 2-63 (Dhuper, 8.5 ov), 3-67 (Senapati, 9.6 ov), 4-86 (Yadav, 13.1 ov), 5-99 (Das, 15.1 ov), 6-119 (Prayas, 18.1 ov), 7-119 (Raut, 18.2 ov)
Bowling: Ashith 4-0-35-0, Subodh Bhati 4-0-27-4, Sagar P Udeshi 4-0-25-1, Sagar V Trivedi 4-0-19-0, Bharat Bhushan Sharma 4-0-19-2.

PONDICHERRY: Ragu c&b Rathod 39, Subodh Bhati c Senapati b Mohanty 0, Rohit Damodaran (C) run out Raut 8, Paras Dogra not out 54, Iqlas Naha lbw Raut 5, Sagar Trivedi not out 17; Extras (w-1, b-4, lb-8) 13
Total (4 wickets; 19 overs) 136
Did not bat: Ashith, Sagar Udeshi, M Viknesh, S Karthik, Bharat Bhushan Sharma
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Bhati, 0.5 ov), 2-37 (Damodaran, 5.4 ov), 3-71 (Ragu, 10.6 ov), 4-88 (Naha, 13.2 ov)
Bowling: Rajesh Mohanty 4-1-24-1, B Shiva 2-0-18-0, Harshit Rathod 4-0-24-1, Prayas Singh 1-0-9-0, Abhishek Raut 4-0-17-1, Bikash Rout 4-0-32-0.
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PHOTO: Odisha batsman Subhranshu Senapati was the top scorer in their last league match against Pondicherry in Lucknow on 9 November 2021.