Bhubaneswar-A, East Coast Railway (ECoRSA), Cuttack-A and Jharsuguda qualified for the Super League of the Kalahandi Cup Senior Men Inter-District Cricket Tournament, after conclusion of the preliminary league matches in Diamond Groups at different grounds in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Khordha today.
Bhubaneswar-A emerged toppers in Diamond Group-A with 18 points from five matches and five wins, while ECoRSA finished second with 16 points and four wins. In Diamond Group-B, Cuttack-A topped the table with 20 points from five matches and five wins, while Jharsuguda finished second with 16 points.
Competition in Diamond Group, featuring 12 teams and a total of 30 matches, had commenced on April 9. Top two finishers in each of the two Diamond Groups advanced to the Super League stage.
Preliminary League competition in Diamond Group will be followed by that of Gold Group from April 18 to 23. The Gold Group will feature a total of 12 teams and 30 matches. Angul, Bargarh, Boudh, Bhadrak, KIIT and Ganjam have been placed in Gold Group-A, while Gold Group-B has been formed with Balasore, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Koraput, Nayagarh and Jagatsinghpur.
In the last round of Diamond Group matches today, Bhubaneswar-A beat ECoRSA by two wickets, Khordha lost to Sundargarh by four wickets, Sambalpur lost to Cuttack-B by two wickets, Jharsuguda beat Mayurbhanj by 139 runs, Cuttack-A crushed Rourkela by 174 runs and Jajpur prevailed over Bhubaneswar-B by 136 runs.
RESULTS (14 April 2022):
Match 25 (At Centurion University Ground, Jatni): ECoRSA 239/10 in 48.4 overs (Sujit Lenka 103, Sameer Mohanty 33, Suryakant Pradhan 25, Girija Rout 21; Asis Pradhan 2/36, Basanta Mohanty 2/39) lost to Bhubaneswar-A 243/8 in 48.2 overs (Anurag Sarangi 79, Shantanu Mishra 62, Debasish Samantray 38, Anshuman Rath 33; Rakesh Mohanty 4/36, Jayanta Behera 3/48) by 2 wickets. PoM: Anurag Sarangi.
Match 26 (At Ravenshaw University Ground-2, Cuttack): Khordha 228/10 in 48.2 overs (Aryashree Debasis Bhatt, Amarjit Chhotaray 25; Swastik Samal 2/25, Ashish Tiwari 2/35) lost to Sundargarh 232/6 in 36.5 overs (Walter Toppo 109, Govinda Poddar 60, Ankit Munda 30; Sumit Maharana 3/50, Subham Nayak 2/23) by 4 wicktes. PoM: Walter Toppo.
Match 27 (At Ravenshaw University Ground-1, Cuttack): Sambalpur 136/10 in 31.5 overs (Pradeep Pradhan 31*, Debabrata Pradhan 21; Ramesh Behera 5/35, Abhisek Giri 3/16) lost to Cuttack-B 139/8 in 37.5 overs (Abhisek Giri 40*, Sambit Sahoo 30; Prashant Thakkar 3/23, Shresth Singh 2/32) by 2 wickets. PoM: Abhisek Giri.
Match 28 (At Sunshine Ground, Cuttack): Jharsuguda 288/10 in 49.4 overs (MD Armaan 66, Raj Kishan Patel 44, Sagar Rout 32, Pushkar Raj 30, Dhananjay Yadav 29, Roshan Prasad 22; Mari Loknath 2/43, Aditya Basa 2/47, Sanjeeb Mohapatra 2/57) beat Mayurbhanj 149/10 in 31.1 overs (Abinash Khandelwala 67, Dibyaranjan Das 28, Abhigyan Mohanty 24; Raj Kishan Patel 4/22, Krishna Pallai 4/24, Bhagyabanta Chandan 2/48) by 139 runs. PoM: Raj Kishan Patel.
Match 29 (At EC Railway Stadium, Bhubaneswar): Cuttack-A 292/9 in 50 overs (Rajesh Dhupar 93, Biplab Samantray 57, Sumeet Mohapatra 42, Bikram Kishor Samal 32, Ramachandra Behera 32*, Suvendu Samal 20; Sumit Panda 2/33, Md Ekram 2/48, Ayaskant Sahu 2/66, Gobinda Tandia 2/70) beat Rourkela 118/9 in 32 overs (Umesh Yadav 33, Sumit Panda 22, Biswajit Mohapatra 4/20, Ashish Rai 3/43, Spandan Sabat 2/29) by 174 runs. PoM: Biswajit Mohapatra.
Match 30 (At CV Raman College Ground, Bhubaneswar): Jajpur 266/9 in 50 overs (Amin I Khan 90, Nishikanta Rout 80, Sawan Pahariya 35, Md Sohail 25; Tukuna Sahu 4/74, Vishal Kar 3/36) beat Bhubaneswar-B 130/10 in 36.5 overs (Satyajeet Sabat 62, Sudarshan Swain 33; Sk Ajharuddin 3/29, Shiba Sundar Das 2/15, Lelin Bal 2/25, Papu Ray 2/33) by 136 runs. PoM: Amin I Khan.
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PHOTO: Undated file picture of Jharsuguda captain Raj Kishan Patel who impressed with both bat and ball in their Kalahandi Cup match against Mayurbhan on 14 April 2022.