A first-innings lead of 45 runs and a second-innings century by captain Surya Mohapatra went in vain as Odisha lost to host Assam by 14 runs on the third and last day of their Vijay Merchant Trophy U-16 East Zone match at Nurul Amin Stadium in Nagaon today.

This was the second defeat in four matches for Odisha and they finished at the bottom of the five-team zonal league table with four points. Jharkhand emerged zonal champions with three wins and 22 points, while Tripura finished runners-up with 11 points. Bengal and Assam occupied the third and fourth positions with nine points each.

Chasing a challenging target of 208 runs for victory, Odisha folded up for 193 despite a defiant knock of 104 (177 balls, 18x4) by captain Mohapatra. Denish Das played instrumental role in the Assam win, bagging six wickets for 388 runs in the second innings.

Earlier in the day, Assam were all out for 252 in the second innings after resuming at the overnight score of 221 for seven. Bikash Naik and Sushil Barik shared nine wickets for Odisha. Opting to bat in the hard-fought match, Assam were bundled out for a paltry 74 in the first innings. Denish Das scored a half-century for the home team, while Sushil Barik and Bikash Naik scalped three wickets apiece for Odisha. In reply, Odisha made 119 with Binayak Mohanty being the top-scorer with 34 runs.

SCOREBOARD

ASSAM (1st innings): Nihar Narah lbw Suraj Behera 1, Nibir Deka c Pradhan b Suraj Behera 10, Bishal Roy lbw Suraj Behera 0, Shivam Mittal b Naik 21, Denish Das b Barik 14, Ruhinandan Pegu (run out) Bikash Naik 0, Rituraj Biswas c Mohanty b Naik 6, Reshabh Dipok (not out) 11, Rohit Agarwal c Jain b Naik 2, Dasarath Kumar lbw Naik 0, Kokil Gogoi c Pradhan b Barik 4; Extras (w-1, lb-4) 5
Total (All out; 38 overs) 74
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Narah, 2.2 ov), 2-3 (Roy, 2.4), 3-18 (Deka, 6.3), 4-41 (D Das, 23.1), 5-43 (Pegu, 26.1), 6-52 (Biswas, 32.1), 7-57 (Mittal, 34.3), 8-65 (Agarwal, 36.3), 9-65 (D Kumar, 36.4), 10-74 (Gogoi , 37.6)
Bowling: Suraj K Behera 7-1-19-3, Ashutosh Chhuria 8-4-12-0, Siddharth Jain 2-1-4-0, Sushil K Barik 12-2-23-2, Bikash Naik 9-3-12-4.

ODISHA (1st innings): Sidhartha Nayak c Pegu b D Kumar 11, Pratyush Pradhan c D Das b Dipok 1, Sanket Behera b Dipok 6, Binayak Mohanty c Riyajuddin Ali (Sub) b Roy 34, Sushil K Barik c Deka b Dipok 0, Sambit S Baral b Agarwal 0, Surya Mohapatra st Pegu b Biswas 26, Siddharth Jain b Dipok 24, Bikash Naik c D Das b Biswas 0, Suraj K Behera c&b Biswas 6, Ashutosh Chhuria (not out) 1; Extras (nb-1, b-8, lb-1) 10
Total (All out; 50.4 overs) 119
Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Pradhan, 5.3 ov), 2-16 (Nayak, 6.4), 3-37 (Sanket Behera , 13.2), 4-37 (Barik, 13.4), 5-42 (Baral, 14.6), 6-68 (Mohanty, 25.3), 7-95 (Mohapatra, 36.5), 8-95 (Naik , 40.4), 9-1177 (Jain, 49.2), 10-119 (Suraj Behera, 50.4)
Bowling: Dasarath Kumar 12-6-17-1, Kokil Gogoi 2-1-2-0, Reshabh Dipok 13-3-44-4, Rohit Agarwal 5-0-19-1, Rituraj Biswas 14.4-7-16-3, Denish Das 1-0-2-0, Bishal Roy 3-1-10-1.

ASSAM (2nd innings): N Narah lbw Barik 11, N Deka c Pradhan b Naik 38, B Roy ct&b Barik 12, S Mittal c Suraj Behera b Naik 42, D Das c Mohapatra b Barik 50, R Biswas (run out) Jain 30, R Pegu (not out) 40, R Dipok c Barik b Naik 7, R Agarwal lbw Naik 4, K Gogoi c Mohapatra b Naik 4, D Kumar st Pradhan b Barik 4; Extras (b-6, lb-4) 10
Total (All out; 98 overs) 252
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Narah, 3.4), 2-39 (Roy, 11.5), 3-86 (Deka, 25.4), 4-117 (Mittal, 43.2), 5-170 (D Das, 61.5), 6-212 (Biswas, 84.6), 7-221 (Dipok, 88.4), 8-232 (Agarwal, 92.5), 9-244 (Gogoi, 94.4), 10-252 (D Kumar, 97.6)
Bowling: Suraj Behera 4-1-18-0, Ashutosh Chhuria 6-2-12-0, Sushil Barik 34-12-64-4, Bikash Naik 34-4-88-5, Sambit Baral 14-0-50-0, Binayak Mohanty 6-3-10-0.

ODISHA (2nd innings): S Nayak c Agarwal b D Das 30, Sanket Behera b Gogoi 0, S Baral c Agarwal b D Das 13, B Mohanty lbw Dipok 1, S Jain b D Kumar 21, Surya Mohapatra c Deka b Biswas 104, Pratyush Pradhan c Deka b D Das 10, S Barik ct&b D Das 0, B Naik c Narah b D Das 0, Suraj Behera b D Das 4, Ashutosh Chhuria (not out) 0; Extras (nb-1, b-8, lb-1) 10
Total (All out; 75.4 overs) 193
Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Sanket Behera, 1.6 ov), 2-44 (S Nayak, 10.5), 3-45 (Baral, 12.4), 4-47 (Mohanty, 13.4 ov), 5-102 (Jain, 29.6 ov), 6-182 (Pradhan, 63.6), 7-182 (Barik, 65.3), 8-188 (Mohapatra, 68.4), 9-189 (Naik, 71.4), 10-193 (Behera, 75.4)
Bowling: Dasarath Kumar 17-6-32-1, Kokil Gogoi 5-1-22-1, Reshabh Dipok 12-2-42-1, Denish Das 15.4-3-38-6, Rituraj Biswas 23-9-34-1, Rohit Agarwal 3-0-16-0.