New Delhi: Sujit Lenka’s (55, 91b, 3×4, 1×6) valiant half century and Abhishek Raut’s (41, 65b, 2×4, 1×6) gutsy knock went in vain as Odisha stumbled to a six wicket loss against Andhra Pradesh in their opening Elite Group B encounter of Vijay Hazare Trophy here at Airforce Complex Ground Thursday.
Opting to bat first, Odisha started on a steady note with openers Rajesh Dhuper (22) and Anurag Sarangi (20) playing ones and twos regularly. However, the dismissal of Dhuper in the eighth over off the bowling of Shoaib Mohammed Khan (2/32) triggered a middle-order collapse as Odisha lost half their side to be at 88/5 in 24 overs.
Skipper Govind Poddar (two) was next to go. Biplab Samantray (16) and Subhranshu Senapati (18) also didn’t stay too long. However, thereafter it was Sujit and Abhishek who stitched together for a 73-run sixth wicket partnership to take them to 184 for the loss of nine wickets in 50 overs. Karn Sharma (3/29) was the pick of the Andhra bowlers.
In reply, Andhra started disastrously losing three quick wickets but thanks to Ashwin Hebbar’s (92 n o, 130b, 6×4, 2×6) unbeaten knock and Ravi Teja’s (53 n o, 83b, 7×4) half century as they overhauled the target with 17 balls to spare.
Brief scores: Odisha 184/9 (Sujit Lenka; Karn Sharma) lost to Andhra Pradesh 186/4 (Ashwin Hebbar 92 n o, Ravi Teja 53 n o) in 47.1 overs by six wickets.
