Bengaluru: After three consecutive defeats, Odisha ended on the right side of the scoreline in the (50-over) Vijay Hazare Trophy on Friday.
Opener Sandeep Pattanaik (77 off 104 balls) and Subhranshu Senapati (77 off 82) played stellar roles in the 7-wicket victory as Odisha chased down a none-too-formidable 231-run target with 4.4 overs to spare at the KSCA ground in Alur.
Having opened their campaign in Group A with a 4-wicket victory over Tripura, Odisha went down to Railways, Kerala and Saurashtra.
Opting to field first after skipper Biplab Samantaray lost the toss, Odisha bowlers did well to restrict Puducherry to 230/6 in 50 overs. Tarani Sa and Harshit Rathod bagged two wickets each.
Odisha made a solid start with a 73-run opening stand between Sandeep and Shantanu Mishra (36). Sandeep then combined with Subhransu in a match-defining century partnership for the second wicket.
Their second win in five games just about keeps Odisha’s slim hopes of knockout qualification alive.
They will have to beat Sikkim and heavyweights Mumbai, and hope for some other results to go their way.
Brief scores: Puducherry 230/6 in 50 overs (Paras Dogra 77*, Akash Kargave 50, Arun Karthik 40; Harshit Rathod 2/43, Tarani Sa 2/52). Odisha 234/3 in 45.2 overs (Sandeep Pattanaik 77, Subhranshu Senapati 77, Shantanu Mishra 36; Abin Mathew 2/45).
Result: Odisha won by 7 wickets.
Group A position: Odisha 7th (8 pts in 5 matches), Puducherry 6th (8 pts in 5 matches).
Odisha’s next match: Vs Sikkim (Dec 3).
