Cuttack: Shresth Singh (6/76) bagged a six-wicket haul but his efforts went in vain as Odisha played out a draw against Bihar in their third Vijay Merchant Trophy U-16 cricket tournament at the Bidanasi Ground here, Wednesday. However, the colts secured three points to Bihar’s one, following their first inning lead.
This was the hosts’ second successive draw in three matches after losing the campaign opener as Odisha lied on fifth position in the six team table, led by Bengal, with four points. They will next play the bottom-placed Tripura at Agartala, November 18-20.
Resuming the day at 17 for no loss, Bihar lost wickets at regular intervals to be bowled out for 231 in 76 overs, with their skipper Arnav Kishor (59, 43b, 8×4, 2×6) being the top scorer. But the important thing was their batsmen played more than two sessions – 70 overs on the final day to pull out a draw for the visitors.
Chasing 147 runs to win, Odisha reached 17 for no loss in seven overs before both the captains decided to settle the match for a draw.
Debashish, Bal lift Odisha
Debashish Samantray (100 batting, 298b, 12×4) hit a magnificent unbeaten century while Kshyamasagar Bal (83, 129b, 12×4) scored a brilliant half century to pull Odisha from a precarious 18/4 to 245/8 against Goa at the end of their first day’s play in U-23 Col CK Nayudu Trophy match at Sanguem Cricket Ground in Goa.
Odisha had a disastrous start losing Biswajit Bhuyan (five), Amrit Khatua (zero), Raghunath Malla (four) and Kartik Biswal (one) in 10.3 overs before Debashish Samantray and Kshyamasagar stitched together to steady the ship with a 130-run fifth wicket partnership. For Goa, Heramb Parab (3/35) wrecked havoc while Vaibhav Govekar (2/58) and Y Dheeraj (2/42) grabbed two wickets apiece.
Akash, Rakesh in semis
Akash Mohapatra and Rakesh Roshan registered convincing victories in their respective quarterfinal matches to surge into the semifinals of the All Odisha Senior Snooker State Ranking Championships here, Wednesday.
Akash defeated Jiten Sarangi 4-0 while Rakesh scrapped past Rumit Gupta 4-2. In the last four to played Thursday Akash faces Rakesh while Subrat Das will meet Siddharth Sen.