Cuttack: Maintaining its winning streak, Odisha defeated Assam by seven wickets with 19 balls to spare in the fifth round Group D encounter of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019 at DRIEMS Ground here on Wednesday.
After a decent start by Rajesh Dhuper (27) and Sandeep Patnaik (21) at the top, Odisha managed to chase down the target of 143 runs easily as Biplab Samantaray (49) and Anurag Sarangi (43*) eased out things in the middle-order.
The hosts had trounced Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram in the previous two matches by eight wickets and nine wickets respectively, after two consecutive defeats against Haryana by 10 runs in Round 2 and Chhattisgarh, which claimed victory by 10 wickets, in the Round 1.
It is the 10th season of India’s premier domestic T20 tournament. This year, 35 teams are participating. They have been divided into 5 groups. Three groups have seven teams while remaining have eight each. A total of 140 T20 matches will played at more than 10 venues during this tournament, which began on February 21, and will culminate with the finals on March 14.
Top two teams from each group will qualify to the Super League stage. The ten teams that qualify for this round will further be divided into two groups. The top-ranked teams from each Super League group will play the final.
The Odisha squad includes Rajesh Dhuper, Subham Nayak, Pappu Roy, Sandeep Pattnaik, Govinda Poddar (Captain), Debabrata Pradhan, Suryakant Pradhan, Rajesh Mohanty, Abhishek Raut, Biplab Samantray, Anurag Sarangi, Subhranshu Senapati, Arabind Singh
