A defiant half-century by Ashutosh Kumar Naik went in vain as Odisha lost to Chhattisgarh by nine wickets on the third and last day of their Vijay Merchant Trophy Elite Group-B match at MPCA Ground in Morena, Madhya Pradesh today. This was the first defeat in two matches for Odisha who earlier drew their opening match against Rajasthan.

Naik, who slammed a half-century in both the innings of their opening match against Rajasthan, scored a 57-ball 52 in the second innings against Chhattisgarh. Odisha will next face Bihar at Scindia School Cricket Ground in Gwalior from December 18 to 20. 

SCORECARD

ODISHA (1st innings): Anshuman Mohanty b Nahar 0, Ashutosh Kumar Naik c Byadwal b Mishra 38, Aurobinda Muduli lbw Bhatia 19, Neil Nitin Mohanty (c) c Gandharv b Nahar 23, Mrutyunjaya Tripathy run out (Prajapati) 10, Om Prakash Das (wk) b Bhatia 24, Partha Sarathi Lenka not out 7, Tapan Gupta run out (Prajapati) 0, Himnish Sahu b Bhatia 1, Mrutyunjay Das b Bhatia 0, Gunjan Sahoo c Thakur b Byadwal 0; Extras (b-11, lb-2, nb-4) 17
Total (All out; 57.1 overs) 139
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (A Mohanty, 0.2 over), 2-59 (NN Mohanty, 19.5), 3-69 (Muduli, 25.6), 4-87 (Tripathy, 32.3), 5-105 (Naik, 38.3), 6-131 (OP Das, 46.6), 7-135 (Gupta, 49.3), 8-136 (Sahu, 54.4), 9-136 (M Das, 54.5), 10-139 (G Sahoo, 57.1).
Bowling: Arham Nahar 10-0-34-2, Ankit Mishra 10-6-12-1, Aditya Badwal 10.1-4-7-1, Parmit Singh Dhalla 5-1-22-0, Arshveer Singh Bhatia 18-9-31-4, Tushya Prajapati 4-0-20-0.

CHHATTISGARH (1st innings): Tushya Prajapati c N Mohanty b G Sahoo 9, Anshuman Thakur (c) c N Mohanty b M Das 30, Aditya Byadwal b Gupta 23, Chandransh Yadav b Lenka 30, Ranveer Chadda lbw M Das 4, Ujjwal Kumar Markam b M Das 26, Prateek Gandharv (wk) c O Das b H Sahu 43, Arshveer Singh Bhatia b H Sahu 47, Ankit Mishra c Tripathy b Lenka 2, Arham Nahar b H Sahu 13, Parmit Singh Dhalla not out 2; Extras (b-12, lb-1, nb-6) 19
Total (All out; 82.2 overs) 248
Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Prajapati, 4.3 overs), 2-61 (Byadwal, 21.2), 3-69 (Thakur, 26.3), 4-79 (Chadda, 30.3), 5-135 (Yadav, 49.2), 6-143 (Markam, 52.1), 7-210 (Gandharv, 70.4), 8-223 (Mishra, 75.5), 9-233 (Bhatia, 78.6), 10-248 (Nahar, 82.2).
Bowling: Gunjan Sahoo 13-0-59-1, Partha Sarathi Lenka 23-2-66-2, Himnish Sahu 14.2-2-44-3, Mrutyunjay Das 19-5-36-3, Tapan Gupta 10-2-22-1, Neil Nitin Mohanty 1-0-6-0, Mrutyunjaya Tripathy 2-1-2-0.

ODISHA (2nd innings): Anshuman Mohanty lbw Byadwal 11, Ashutosh Kumar Naik b Bhatia 52, Aurobinda Muduli lbw Byadwal 5, Neil Nitin Mohanty (c) b Nahar 17, Om Prakash Das (wk) lbw Bhatia 0, Tapan Gupta lbw Nahar 14, Mrutyunjaya Tripathy c&b Bhatia 26, Partha Sarathi Lenka not out 17, Himnish Sahu b Byadwal 0, Mrutyunjay Das b Dhalla 7, Gunjan Sahoo c Bhatia b Dhalla 0; Extras (b-14, lb-5, w-1) 20
Total (All out; 69.4 overs) 169
Fall of wickets: 1-52 (A Mohanty, 8.6 overs), 2-68 (Naik, 17.5), 3-82 (Muduli, 22.6), 4-85 (O Das, 27.2), 5-98 (N Mohanty, 33.3), 6-119 (Gupta, 46.5), 7-141 (Tripathy, 57.1), 8-146 (H Sahu, 60.3), 9-169 (M Das, 69.1), 10-169 (G Sahu, 69.4).
Bowling: Arham Nahar 15-4-36-2, Ankit Mishra 2-0-19-0, Arshveer Singh Bhatia 29-6-75-3, Aditya Badwal 21-7-19-3, Parmit Singh Dhalla 2.4-1-1-2.

CHHATTISGARH (2nd innings): Tushya Prajapati not out 20, Anshuman Thakur (c) b Lenka 25, Aditya Byadwal not out 15; Extras (nb-1) 1
Total (1 wicket; 13.1 overs) 61
Fall of wicket: 1-35 (Thakur, 9.2)
Bowling: Gunjan Sahoo 4-1-14-0, Himnish Sahu 4-1-19-0, Mrutyunjay Das 2-1-4-0, Partha Sarathi Lenka 2.1-0-14-1, Tapan Gupta 1-0-10-0.
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PHOTO: File picture of Odisha batter Ashutosh Kumar Naik who scored a half-century in their Vijay Merchant Trophy match against Chhattisgarh in Morena on 14 December 2025.