Post News Network
Cuttack, April 2: Hosts Orissa suffered their first reverse in the Syed Mushtaq Ali cricket tournament when they went down by six wickets to Rajasthan at the DRIEMS ground Thursday. Orissa after being put into bat scored 162 for the loss of seven wickets. In reply, Rajasthan riding on a fluent unbeaten 67 (49b, 3×4, 5×6) by Ankit Lamba reached the winning target with two balls to spare.
Orissa at one point of time never looked like going past the 125-run mark. But an eighth wicket stand of 42 runs in 11 balls between Suryakant Pradahan (28 n o, 8b, 4×6) and Deepak Behera (19 n o, 11b, 2×4, 1×6) took them past the 160-run mark. Govind Poddar (61, 44b, 7×4, 1×6) had earlier held the innings together.
Rajasthan, however, did not start well losing opener Suryaprakash Suwalka who was bowled with the seventh ball of the innings by Suryakant. But Lamba with Sourabh Chauhan (35, 30b, 4×4, 1×6) added 59 runs to steady the ship. After Chauhan’s dismissal he added another 87 runs with Ashok Menaria (42, 27b, 1×4, 3×6) for the third wicket to ensure an emphatic win for the visitors. Deepak (2/19) bowled well for Orissa.
Brief scores:
(AT DRIEMS Ground): Orissa 162 for seven (Govind Podder 61, Suryakant Pradhan 28 n o) lost to Rajasthan 166 for four (Ankit Lamba 67, Deepak Behera 2/19) by six wickets
(At DRIEMS Ground): Punjab 173 for six (Jaskaranveer Singh 114) beat Mumbai 76 for three (Jay Bista 47) by five runs. Match decided through JVD method.
(At KIIT): Himachal Pradesh 124 (Prashant Chopra 40; Rohit Dahiya 4/31) lost to Gujarat 128 for four by six wickets.
(At KIIT): Madhya Pradesh 153 for beat Jharkhand 144 for seven (Kaushal Singh 50) by nine runs.
