Bhubaneswar: A valiant 48-ball 51 by opener Sandeep Pattnaik and a quick-fire 18 off eight balls by Ankit Yadav wasn’t enough as Odisha fell short by three runs against Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in their fourth Group E Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy encounter in Surat, Tuesday.
While Odisha’s first two games against Jharkhand and Delhi were abandoned without a ball being bowled, they registered their first full points against Sikkim Monday. With eight points from four matches Odisha are currently at fifth in the group table.
Opting to bat first, J&K posted a competitive 164/2 at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium, mostly build on knocks from Jatin Wadhwan (69, 58b, 5×4, 4×6) and Subham Pundir (48 n o). Abdul Samad (29 n o) played a late surge to take the team past the 160-run mark. Ankit (1/49) was the lone wicket taker for Odisha.
In reply, Odisha lost opener and skipper Govind Poddar (10) cheaply before Sandeep and Subhranshu Senapati (38) added 72 runs for the second wicket to steady the ship. However, three quick wickets in space of four runs, that too including the Sandeep-Subhranshu duo proved too costly as Odisha never really could overcome the setback.
Although, Ankit did put up a late fight towards the end, he ran out of partners as Odisha finished at 161/7. For J&K, Umar Nazir (2/27), Aqid Nabi (2/40), Abid Mushtaq (2/24) took two wickets each while Ram Dayal (1/46) got the other.
Brief scores: Jammu and Kashmir 164/2 (Jatin Wadhwan 69, Subham Pundir 48 n o) beat Odisha 161/7 (Sandeep Pattnaik 51, Subhranshu Senapati 38; Abid Mushtaq 2/24, Umar Nazir 2/27) by three runs.
PNN