Magnificent knock of 90 by stumper-batsman Rajesh Dhuper went in vain as Odisha lost to Bengal by seven wickets in their opening match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy East Zone T20 League at JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi today. Electing to bat, Odisha mustered a competitive total of 157 for five in the stipulated 20 overs.
But Bengal comfortably overhauled the target with eight balls to spare, thanks to a half-century each by their openers Shreevats Goswami (79 off 52b, 9x4, 2x6) and Vivek Singh (64 off 43b, 5x4, 3x6). The duo made the target easy with a partnership of 134 runs for the opening wicket.
Earlier, Dhuper and captain Anurag Sarangi gave Odisha a decent start, putting on 56 runs for the opening wicket. But no batsman except Dhuper could stay long at the wicket for a sizeable knock. Dhuper impressed one and all with his 64-ball defiant knock, which included eight boundaries and two sixes.
SCOREBOARD
ODISHA: Rajesh Dhuper (run out) Goswami 90, Anurag Sarangi c Majumdar b W Chatterjee 23, Paresh Patel c Chandila b W Chatterjee 1, Debasish Samantray c Dinda b M Tiwary 19, Subhransu Senapati lbw M Tiwary 0, Prayas Singh (not out) 20; Extras (w-3, b-1) 4
Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 157
Did not bat: Jayanta Behera, Lagnajit Samal, Suryakant Pradhan, Abhishek Raut, Debabrata Pradhan.
Fall of wickets: 1-56 (Sarangi, 6.5 ov), 2-60 (Patel, 8.4), 3-118 (Samantray, 15.1), 4-118 (Senapati, 15.2), 5-157 (Dhuper, 19.6)
Bowling: Kanishk Seth 3-0-25-0, Ashoke Dinda 4-0-34-0, Anurag Tiwari 2-0-22-0, Sayan Ghosh 4-0-27-0, Writtick Chatterjee 4-0-25-2, Manoj Tiwary 3-0-23-2.
BENGAL: Shreevats Goswami c Senapati b Behera 79, Vivek Singh (run out) Senapati 64, Manoj Tiwary lbw Raut 3, Sudip Chatterjee (not out) 6, Anustup Majumdar (not out) 1; Extras (w-3, lb-2) 5
Total (3 wickets; 18.4 overs) 158
Fall of wickets: 1-134 (V Singh, 13.5 ov), 2-146 (M Tiwary, 15.6), 3-155 (Goswami, 17.6)
Bowling: Suryakant Pradhan 4-0-32-0, Debabrata Pradhan 3.4-0-23-0, Lagnajit Samal 2-0-30-0, Prayas Singh 3-0-22-0, Jayanta Behera 2-0-18-1, Abhishek Raut 4-0-31-1.