Vijay Hazare Trophy: After Opening Win, Odisha Let Railways Off Hook In Rain-Hit Game

Bengaluru: Having got the perfect start in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (50-over meet) with a 4-wicket victory over Tripura two days ago, Odisha went down to Railways in a rain-marred match on Saturday.

Odisha medium-pacers Debabrata Pradhan (4/35), Rajesh Mohanty (3/34) and Prayash Singh (2/40) had Railways on the mat at 73/6 and 104/7.

However, Pratham Singh’s half-century, and a 54-run partnership for the ninth wicket between Karn Sharma (72 off 67 balls) and Yuvraj Singh helped Railways reach a somewhat respectable total of 193.

Odisha made disastrous start, losing their top three with just 17 runs on the board in 7 overs.

Skipper Biplab Samantaray (41 not out off 49 balls) stopped the rot, but when bad weather stopped play, Odisha had reached 67/4 to be 24 short of target score in the VJD method which is applied in weather-marred games in domestic cricket.

Brief scores: Railways 193 in 40 overs (Karn Sharma 72, Pratham Singh 50; Debabrata Pradhan 4/35, Rajesh Mohanty 3/34, Prayash Singh 2/40). Odisha 67/4 in 20.2 overs (Biplab Samantaray 41*; Rahul Sharma 2/11).

Result: Railways won by 24 runs by VJD method.

Odisha’s next match: Vs Kerala (Nov. 27).