Bhubaneswar: Odisha duly completed a big win in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match against Meghalaya in Shillong on Sunday.
The innings-and-56-run victory took Odisha to fourth place in the group, with 17 points from six matches. But it wasn’t enough for them to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Jammu & Kashmir (29 points) and Baroda (27) occupy the top two spots in the group currently, and even if Odisha beat Services handsomely in their last game to pocket the maximum 7 points, they can at best finish third.
The top two from each of the four Elite groups will advance to the knockout rounds.
Meg
halaya, who started the final day on 221/6, needed 129 more runs to make Odisha bat a second time. But once Jaskirat Sachdeva was castled by Sunil Roul for 82, Meghalaya folded up for 294 in their second innings.
Off-spinner Govinda Poddar bagged two wickets and first-innings destroyer Tapas Das claimed one. Medium-pacer Tapas, who made his Ranji debut, was adjudged Player of the Match for his match haul of 7/124.
Brief Scores
Meghalaya 1st innings: 198
Odisha 1st innings: 548/7 declared
Meghalaya 2nd innings: 294 (Jaskirat Sachdeva 82, Sumit Kumar 51; Sunil Roul 4/61, Rajesh Mohanty 3/49, Govinda Poddar 2/54, Tapas Das 1/57).
Result: Odisha won by an innings & 56 runs.
Player of the Match: Tapas Das (7-wicket match haul).
Standings: Odisha 4th in Elite Group A (17 points from 6 matches)
Odisha’s last match: Vs Services at Cuttack from January 30.