BHUBANESWAR 03-Jun-2014 116
Visually impaired cricketers made Odisha proud by winning the East Zone title for the fourth time in a row today. Riding on an unbeaten 88 by Sukhram Majhi and a three-wicket haul by Lal Prasad Soren, Odisha crushed Bengal in the final by seven wickets at Jadhavpur University Stadium in Kolkata.
Led by Mohammad Jaffer Iqbal, Odisha earlier outplayed Tripura by 10 wickets to book berth in the final. Altogether four teams participated in the East Zone tournament. Jharkhand were the other team in the fray.
Sukhram Majhi was adjudged the man of the final and man of the tournament in B2 category. Jaffer Iqbal and Surjit Gouda (Bengal) received the man of the tournament prizes in B1 and B3 categories respectively.
Former India ODI allrounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla handed over the trophy at the closing ceremony. He encouraged the players and wished them success in the upcoming ODI World Cup for the Blind to be held at Cape Town in South Africa from November 25 to December 9. According to Odisha captain Iqbal, the selection trial for the composition of the Indian team would take place at Tirupati from July 18 to 20.
BRIEF SCORE (Final): Bengal 149/10 in 19.2 overs (Lal Prasad Soren 3/15, Jafar Iqbal 1/30, Rajiv Lochan 1/31) lost to Odisha 151/3 in 18 overs (Sukhram Majhi 88 n.o, Jujhar Bari 32) by 7 wkts.
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PHOTO: Odisha`s visually impaired cricket team with the East Zone trophy in Kolkata on June 3, 2014.
