Post News Network
Cuttack, Jan 2: The Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) needs to do some serious rethinking about the present senior squad which once again was doomed to a six-wicket defeat against Mumbai in their first Group D T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game at the Barabati Stadium here Saturday.
For the last couple of seasons – be it any format of the game – the bowlers have been delivering the goods for Orissa. The batsmen have always appeared to be the ‘elite’ class – not ready to grind it out in the middle and getting out to irresponsible shots. Saturday was no exception, with at least three top-order batsmen throwing their wickets away. Any side which fails to bat their full quota of 20 overs should not just be criticised, but forced to take at least a two-hour bath in the cold waters of the Mahanadi.
Yes, the cloudy day helped the Mumbai pacers Dhawal Kulkarni (2/17) and Shardul Thakur (2/11). But then how can one justify the military medium of Abhishek Nayar (2/21) and the leg-spin of 44-year-old Praveen Tambe (2/20) scalping four Orissa batsmen who were well aware of the Barabati pitch at this time of the year. Had debutant Abhishek Yadav (33, 31b, 3×4, 1×6) not batted well and Alok Sahu (19, 17b, 1×4, 1×6) not used the long handle to good effect, Orissa could have well faced the ignominy of folding for less than 50.
The others less said the better, their scores resembling a cell phone number – Tukuna Sahoo (5), Bikash Pati (10), Govind Poddar (1), Biplab Samantray (6), Aravind Singh (0), Lagnajit Samal (1) and Deepak Behera (1).
Chasing down a victory target of 92 was never going to be a problem for a side like Mumbai. That they lost four wickets in the process was because of a couple of lively spells from Basant Mohanty (2/21) and Deepak Behera (2/14). But after their initial opening bursts, there was no one else to maintain the pressure on the Mumbai batsmen. Aditya Tare (32, 33b, 5×4) and Siddhesh Lad (31 n o, 30b, 5×4) ensured an emphatic victory for the visitors.
