BHUBANESWAR 21-Mar-2013 232
Odisha emerged champions in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy East Zone T-20 Tournament, inflicting a 34-run defeat on Bengal in their fourth and last league match at Bir Bikram College ground in Agartala on Thursday. Despite the defeat, Bengal, along with Odisha, qualified for the all-India super league-cum-knock-out matches to be played at Ranchi from March 25 to 31.
Odisha, Bengal and Assam tied for the top spot in the five-team East Zone league table, garnering 12 points each. But on the basis of net run rate, Odisha (+0.968) emerged No 1, while Bengal (+0.959) and Assam (+0.036) finished second and third respectively. Assam missed the bus for the knock-out round despite defeating Jharkhand by six wickets in another match of the day.
Odisha owed their victory over Bengal mainly to vice-captain Govind Poddar and rookie pace bowler Suryakant Pradhan. Poddar hit a 36-ball 46 with the help of four boundaries and two sixes to help Odisha, who elected to bat first, muster a competitive total of 129. In reply, Bengal could make 95 for seven in the stipulated 20 overs. Pradhan destroyed the top order of the opposition batting line-up, scalping three wickets. His miserly spell of four overs cost him only eight runs.
Bengal never recovered after being reduced to 22 for four and 42 for six. Odish’s pace spearhead Basant Mohanty and skipper Biplab Samantaray also proved economic and the former picked up two wickets, leaking 12 runs in his four overs.
Poddar emerged as the most consistent batsman in the zonal tournament, compiling a total of 177 runs in four innings at an average of 44.25. His breezy knock against Bengal helped Odisha fight back after being reduced to 42 for four. Allrounder Deepak Behera’s 17-ball 32 (5x4) at No 9 position also proved valuable for Odisha.
SCOREBOARD
ODISHA: Paresh Patel c Saha b Mandal 9, Bikash Pati b Shukla 3, Aravinda Singh lbw Saxena 8, Govind Poddar c Shukla b Saxena 46, Biplab Samantaray c A Das b A Singh 8, Rakesh Mohanty lbw Sanyal 6, Subhrajit Sahoo c&b Saxena 3, Ankit Yadav c&b Shukla 1, Deepak Behera c A Das b Mandal 30, Suryakant Pradhan c Mandal b Shukla 6, Basant Mohanty (not out) 0; Extras (lb-8, w-1) 9
Total (10 wkts; 20 overs) 129
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-20, 3-22, 4-42, 5-76, 6-89, 7-89, 8-97, 9-112
Bowling: Alok Singh 4-0-18-1, L Shukla 4-0-27-3, I Saxena 4-0-22-3, S Mandal 4-0-30-2, S Sanyal 4-0-24-1
BENGAL: S Goswami c A Singh b B Mohanty 5, J Mandal c&b Pradhan 0, A Majumder b Pradhan 7, A Sharma c S Sahoo b Pradhan 2, W Saha c Pati b Yadav 10, A Das c S Sahoo b B Mohanty 17, L Shukla (run out) 0, D Das (not out) 21, S Sanyal (not out) 16; Extras (lb-10, w-7) 17
Total (7 wkts; 20 overs) 95
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-14, 3-22, 4-22, 5-42, 6-42, 7-60
Bowling: Suryakant Pradhan 4-0-8-3, Deepak Behera 4-0-32-0, Basant Mohanty 4-0-14-2, Biplab Samantaray 4-0-12-0, Paresh Patel 2-0-12-0, Ankit Yadav 2-0-7-1.
