A maiden T20 century by in-form opening batter Swastik Samal went abegging as Odisha suffered a seven-wicket defeat against Railways in their second Group-D match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Senior Men T20 Cricket Tournament at Dr PVG Raju ACA Sports Complex in Vizianagaram today.

This was the second successive defeat for Odisha, who lost to Vidarbha by 33 runs in their match two days ago. Expensive bowling cost Odisha dear as Railways overhauled a challenging target of 195 with seven wickets and seven balls to spare. Five of the seven Odisha bowlers conceded 12 or more runs per over.

But Odisha did well in batting, mustering 194 for five in 20 overs after Railways won the toss and opted to bowl. The sizeable total was possible mainly because of a 63-ball 105 by Samal, who slammed eight boundaries and six sixes. He was awarded as the player of the match for his magnificent hundred.

Debutant Sambit Baral was another Odisha player who drew attention for his allround performance. He scored a 13-ball unbeaten 27 with the help of one four and three sixes. Baral was also the second most economical bowler of his team, conceding 13 runs in 1.5 overs. Odisha will next meet Puducherry in Visakhapatnam on November 29.

SCORECARD

ODISHA: Swastik Samal c KV Sharma b Susheel Kumar 105,    Gourav Choudhury c Ahuja b Kunal Yadav 19, Sandeep Pattnaik retired hurt 5, Govinda Poddar (c) c Choudhary b AR Sharma 18, Abhishek Yadav c Susheel Kumar b Kunal Yadav 11, Sambit Baral not out 27, Rakesh Pattnaik run out (Yadav) 1; Extras (lb-2, nb-1, w-5) 8
Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 194
Did not bat: Aasirwad Swain (wk), Pradeep Pradhan, Harshit Rathod, Debabrata Pradhan
Fall of wickets: 1-52 (Choudhury, 5.2 overs), 1-59* (S Pattanaik, retired not out), 2-119 (Poddar, 13.3), 3-156 (Yadav, 16.4), 4-186 (Samal, 19.3), 5-194 (R Pattnaik, 19.6)
Bowling: Susheel Kumar 4-0-54-1, Kunal Yadav 4-0-37-2, Raj Choudhary 4-0-40-0, Karn Sharma 4-0-22-0, Samarth Vyas 2-0-22-0, Ashutosh Sharma 2-0-17-1.

RAILWAYS: Samarth Vyas b R Pattnaik 31, Vivek Singh c Rathod b Poddar 59, Pratham Singh run out (A Yadav) 56, Upendra Yadav (c, wk) not out 46, Ashutosh Sharma not out 4; Extras    (lb-1, w-1) 2
Total (3 wickets; 18.5 overs) 198
Did not bat: Susheel Kumar, Kunal Yadav, Ravi Singh, Suraj Ahuja, Raj Choudhary, Karn Sharma
Fall of wickets: 1-77 (V Singh, 5.4 overs), 2-118 (Vyas, 9.6), 3-194 (P Singh, 18.2)
Bowling: Debabrata Pradhan 3-0-36-0, Pradeep Pradhan 4-0-49-0, Govinda Poddar 3-0-36-1, Harshit Rathod 2-0-28-0, Abhishek Yadav 1-0-13-0, Rakesh Pattnaik 4-0-22-1, Sambit Baral 1.5-0-13-0.
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PHOTO: Odisha batter Swastik Samal receives the Player of the Match award for his superb century against Railway in Vizianagaram on 25 Nov 2024.