Cuttack: Odisha suffered a humiliating eight wickets loss against Bengal in a Group D match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 cricket tournament at the Barabati Stadium here Saturday.
Opting to bat first Odisha faced a batting debacle early on to be eventually restricted for 108/9 in the stipulated 20 overs. Their innings never took off as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Rajesh Dhuper (10), Anurag Sarangi (20), Abhishek Raut (18), Arabind Singh (16) got starts, but threw their wickets away. Rajesh Mohanty (24, 21b, 1×4, 2×6) was the highest scorer for the hosts with some nasty blows lower down the order. But he was unfortunate to be run out.
Lack of partnership also dented Odisha’s batting thanks to some restrictive and penetrating bowling by the visitors. Ishan Porel (3/19) was the most successful bowler for them. He did the bulk of the damage along with Ayan Bhattacharjee (2/13) and Ashok Dinda (2/29).
In reply Bengal made a mockery of the chase as they romped home in 12.4 overs for the loss of only two wickets. Bengal lost an early wicket in form op opener Shreevats Goswami (11). But in-form Wriddhiman Saha (52, 31b, 5×4, 3×6) and Abhimanyu Easwaran (33 n o, 31b, 3×4) shattered Odisha’s hope with a match-winning partnership of 73 runs for the second wicket.
Wriddhiman was particularly severe on the bowlers hitting a flurry of boundaries to all parts of the park. Subham Nayak (1/18) and Ashutosh Das (1/19) captured one wicket each for the hosts.
Brief scores: Odisha 108/9 (Rajesh Mohanty 24; Ishan Porel 3/19) lost to Bengal 11/2 (Wriddhiman Saha 52) by eight wickets.