Cuttack: Team Odisha cricketer Rajesh Dhuper sizzled with the bat to help Cuttack-A wallop Rourkela by 174 runs on Thursday and top Diamond Group-A in the Kalahandi Cup competition.
The 22-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman smashed 93 off 91 balls as Cuttack-A amassed 292/9 in 50 overs. In reply, Rourkela could manage only 118.
ECORSA lost by 2 wickets to BBSR-A, despite Sujit Lenka’s century. However, both BBSR-A (18 points) and ECORSA (16 points) qualified for the Super League stage of the Kalahandi Cup from Diamon Group-B.
The fourth team to advance from the first phase preliminary league action in Diamond group was Jharsuguda (16 points), who beat Mayurbhanj by 139 runs in Group A.
Sundargarh, Cuttack-B and Jajpur won their matches against Khurda, Sambalpur and BBSR-B, respectively, on Thursday, but were knocked out of the tournament.
Preliminary league matches in Gold Groups A & B will commence on April 18.
