Bhubaneswar: Odisha defeated Andhra Pradesh by 51 runs in the third and final T20 match to win the three-match series 2-1 in the Ist Bilateral Inter-State Cricket Tournament for the visually-impaired. The tournament concluded at the Hi-Tech Cricket Stadium here.
Odisha won the first match by 35 runs before Andhra Pradesh bounced back to win the second by seven wickets to draw level. However, in the final it was Odisha who produced an impressive display to win the match and eventually the series.
Batting first, Odisha rode on skipper Jafar Iqbal’s (53, 49b, 4×4, 1×6) half century to post a challenging 204 runs for the loss of six wickets in 20 overs. In reply, Andhra were restricted to 153 for seven in the allotted 20 overs. Jafar also played a vital role in bowling picking up two wickets.
T Durga Rao (Andhra Pradesh B3), Pankaj Bhue (Odisha, B2) and Jafar (Odisha, B1) bagged the player of the series awards in their respective categories.
Team selected
Odisha Roll Ball Association (ORBA) announced Monday, 17-member U-14 (boys and girls) squad that will participate in the National Roll Ball Championships at Pune, September 14-16. Incidentally, this is the first time that the U-14 girl’s team have qualified for the national tournament. The squad: (Boys) Byasdev Mohapatra, Monish Sahani, Arindam Samal, Parmesh Mohanty, Jeevan Gadnayak, Pritish Aryan Jena, Subhankar P Khilar, Amit Kumar Sethy, Rushil Sasmal, S Pritesh; (Girls) Vanshika Tikmani, Tanushree Choudhary, Samidha Berma, Zainab Nafees, Aradhya Manjari Devi, Pallavi Sahoo and Rajashree Bebarta.
