Cuttack: Odisha gave their supporters at Barabati Stadium some really nervous moments here on Friday before pulling off their first win of the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season.
Chasing just 129 runs to beat Maharashtra after bowling the visitors out for 166 in their second innings, Odisha were within a stroke of victory at 124/4 when the batters suddenly developed cold feet. Skipper Govinda Poddar (48) and Aashirwad Swain, who added 49 crucial runs for the fifth wicket, fell in the same over of Prashant Solanki. And when Suryakant Pradhan was dismissed in leggie Solanki’s next over, Odisha were 125/7, having lost 3 wickets for the addition of 1 run.
Everyone at the Barabati heaved a sigh of relief when Sumit Sharma hit a boundary to seal a 3-wicket win for Odisha with a day to spare in the low-scoring Elite Group A encounter.
Sumit earlier bagged the last 5 wickets of Maharashtra’s second innings to restrict their overall lead to 128. The left-arm spinner had a match haul of 9/85.
But it was skipper Govinda Poddar who was adjudged Man of the Match for his all-round performance. Off-spinner Poddar (3/42) took two wickets earlier in the day after Maharashtra resumed on 78/3. He thus finished with 6 wickets in the match and also scored 48 in the victory chase.
Odisha earned 6 points to take their tally to 10 from 5 matches.
Brief Scores
Maharashtra 1st innings: 162
Odisha 1st innings: 200
Maharashtra 2nd innings: 166 (Ramakrishna Ghosh 39; Sumit Sharma 5/46, Govinda Poddar 3/42).
Odisha 2nd innings: 130/7 (Govinda Poddar 48, Sandeep Pattanaik 36; Prashant Solanki 3/12).
Result: Odisha won by 3 wickets.
Points: Odisha 6, Maharashtra 0.
Group A standings: Odisha 6th (10 points), Maharashtra 7th (8 pts).
Odisha’s next Ranji match: Vs Meghalaya from Jan 23, 2025 (Shillong).
