Bhubaneswar: After losing two close games, Odisha posted their first win in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (50-over format) in Jaipur on Thursday.
In an impressive team effort, Odisha thumped Uttarakhand by 75 runs at Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
Asked to bat first, Odisha rode half-centuries by two of their in-form batters — opener Swastik Samal (53) and Kartik Biswal (69) – to post 265/7.
Samal had made 57 and 49, while Biswal scored 40 and 76 in Odisha’s previous two games against Goa and Assam, respectively.
On Thursday, opener Gaurav Choudhary (36) and young wicketkeeper-batter Aashirwad Swain (38) also chipped in with useful contributions.
Medium-pacer Rajesh Mohanty then produced a couple of incisive spells to set up Odisha’s big win. He sent back opener Yuvraj Chaudhary in his third over and returned later to run through Uttarakhand’s lower-middle and lower order. His figures of 8.5-0-41-5 earned Mohanty the Player of the Match award.
Medium-pacer Prayash Singh and leggie Abhishek Raut bagged 2 wickets apiece.
Odisha had lost a high-scoring opener against Goa, scoring 344 while chasing 372, and then suffered a last-ball defeat in the clash against Assam.
Brief Scores
Odisha 265/7 in 50 overs (Kartik Biswal 69, Swastik Samal 53; Yuvraj Chaudhary 2/34).
Uttarakhand 190 all out in 41.5 overs (Kunal Chandela 42; Rajesh Mohanty 5/41, Prayash Singh 2/33, Abhishek Raut 2/34).
Result: Odisha won by 75 runs.
Standings: Odisha 6th in Group A (4 points from 3 matches)
Odisha’s remaining games: Vs Manipur (Dec 28), vs Jharkhand (Dec 31), vs Haryana (Jan 3), vs Gujarat (Jan 5).
