Odisha lost to Andhra by six wickets in their opening Elite Group-B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy Cricket Tournament at Airforce Complex ground, Palam, New Delhi today. Opening batsman Ashwin Hebbar starred in the Andhra win, hitting an unbeaten 92.
Chasing 185 for victory, Andhra overhauled the target in 47.1 overs, losing four wickets in the process. DB Ravi Teja was another successful batsman for Andhra, remaining unbeaten on 52. Pappu Roy was most successful Odisha bowler, taking two wickets for 16 runs.
Earlier, Odisha mustered a competitive total of 184 for nine after opting to bat first. After losing the top half of their batting line-up for 88 runs, Odisha made a recovery of sort, thanks to a fighting half-century by wicket-keeper Sujit Lenka and his 73-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Abhishek Raut, who contributed 41.
Lenka hit 55 with the help of three boundaries and one six. The 91-ball knock was the second List-A half-century of his career. Odisha will next meet Kerala at the same venue tomorrow.
SCOREBOARD
ODISHA: Rajesh Dhuper lbw Shoaib 22, Anurag Sarangi b Golamaru 20, Govinda Poddar lbw Shoaib 2, Subhransu Senapati c Vihari b K Sharma 18, Biplab Samantaray b Golamaru 16, Sujit Lenka (run out) Sumanth 55, Abhishek Raut c Hebbar b K Sharma 41, Deepak Behera c&b K Sharma 0, Rajesh Mohanty (not out) 8, Pappu Roy (run out) Bandaru 0; Extras (w-1, b-1) 2
Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 184
Did not bat: Preet K Singh Chohan
Fall of wickets: 1-35 (Dhuper, 7.5 ov), 2-43 (Poddar, 9.6 ov), 3-45 (Sarangi, 10.4 ov), 4-75 (Samantaray, 20.2 ov), 5-88 (Senapati, 24.3 ov), 6-161 (Raut, 46.1 ov), 7-161 (Behera, 46.2 ov), 8-179 (Lenka, 49.4 ov), 9-184 (Roy, 49.6 ov)
Bowling: Ayyappa Bandaru 5-0-26-0, Girinath Reddy 1-0-9-0, Shoaib Mohammed Khan 10-0-32-2, Manish Golamaru 10-0-37-2, Karn Sharma 10-0-29-3, GH Vihari 10-0-33-0, DB Ravi Teja 4-0-17-0.
ANDHRA: Ashwin Hebbar (not out) 92, KS Bharat (run out) Poddar 0, GH Vihari c R Mohanty b Roy 9, Ricky Bhui b Roy 0, B Sumanth c Lenka b Raut 24, DB Ravi Teja (not out) 53; Extras (w-2, lb-6) 8
Total (4 wickets; 47.1 overs) 186
Did not bat: Girinath Reddy, Manish Golamaru, Karn Sharma, Ayyappa Bandaru, Shoaib Mohammed Khan
Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Bharat, 1.1 ov), 2-33 (Vihari, 6.3 ov), 3-33 (Bhui, 6.4 ov), 4-85 (Sumanth, 20.6 ov)
Bowling: Rajesh Mohanty 3-0-25-0, Preet K Singh Chohan 5-0-26-0, Pappu Roy 10-2-16-2, Deepak Behera 2-0-11-0, Govinda Poddar 10-1-32-0, Abhishek Raut 10-0-42-1, Anurag Sarangi 5.1-1-21-0, Biplab Samantaray 2-0-7-0.
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PHOTO: File photo of Odisha wicketkeeper-batsman Sujit Lenka