In reply, Cuttack-A suffered an early jolt as opening batsman Rajesh Dhuper departed without scoring. Though the home team lost two more wickets, including that of captain Biplab Samantray, victory never seemed beyond their reach. Aravinda Singh capped the win, hitting an unbeaten 23.

The other super league match, played at KIIT Cricket Stadium in Bhubaneswar, was also a low-scoring affair. Put into bat by ECoRSA captain Sujit Lenka, Bhubaneswar-A failed to bat through the full 20 overs and were bowled out for a modest 92 in 18.1 overs. Barring Shantanu Mishra, who hit a defiant 42, no other batsman could make a notable contribution.

Pace spearhead Suryakant Pradhan destroyed the bottom half of the opposition batting line-up with a haul of four wickets for 19 runs. Earlier, Alok Mangaraj and Jayant Behera picked up two wickets each to put Bhubaneswar-A side on the back foot. Chasing 93 for victory, the Railway side romped home in 15.4 overs, losing one wicket in the process. Kameswar Barik led the chase, hitting an unbeaten 43.

BRIEF SCORES (20 December, 2020):

Match 97 (At Ravenshaw Ground, Cuttack): Balasore 73/10 in 18.3 overs (Sunil Roul 4/14, Deepak Behera 2/9, Saurabh Kanojia 2/10) lost to Cuttack-A 74/3 in 14.3 overs (Aravinda Singh 23*, Jyoti Ranjan Dalai 22, Sekhar Majhi 1/11) by 7 wickets.

Match 98 (At KIIT Ground, Bhubaneswar): Bhubaneswar-A 92/10 in 18.1 overs (Shantanu Mishra 42; Suryakant Pradhan 4/19, Jayant Behera 2/12, Alok Mangaraj 2/23) lost to East Coast Railway 95/1 in 15.4 overs (Kameswar Barik 43*, Girija Rout 27, Abhihek Yadav 20*) by 9 wickets.
------------------------------------------------------------- PHOTOS -------------------------------------------------------------
TOP: Undated file photo of Cuttack-A pace bowler Sunil Kumar Roul.
RIGHT: Undated file picture of East Coast Railway speedster Suryakant Pradhan.