Rajasthan, Punjab win in Mustaq Ali Cricket trophy
Bhubaneswar: Rajasthan rode on a strong batting performance to beat Odisha by six wickets in the super league round match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at DRIEMS Cricket Ground in Tangi, Cuttack on Thursday. Opting to field, Rajasthan restricted Odisha to 162, with Chandrapal Singh and Manjeet Singh taking two wickets each. Anurag Sarangi and Roshan Kumar Rao added 25 before Puneet Yadav broke the opening stand by dismissing Sarangi for 21 off 14 balls. Chandrapal then sent back Roshan Kumar to leave them at 42 for 2 in the seventh over. Govinda Podder and Shesdeep Patra, though, strung together a 49-run partnership, which ended with the fall of Patra’s wicket in the 15th over. Odisha lost two more wickets in the space of six balls, as they slipped to 100 for 5. Podder struck 61 from 44, and was aided by an eight-ball 28 from Suryakant Pradhan, as Odisha finished strong on 162 for 7. Pradhan then came back to trouble Rajasthan with the ball, removing Suryaprakash Suwalka in the second over of the chase.
Ankit lamba, though, assumed charge and added 59 with Sourabh Chouhan (35) before joining hands with Ashok Menaria (42), who had also produced a frugal spell early on. Though Menaria and Rajesh Bishnoi were undone by the pair of Arabind Singh and Deepak Behera in the penultimate over, lamba remained unbeaten on 67 off 49 balls to guide Rajasthan home with two balls to spare. In another match, Jaskaranveer Singh’s unbeaten 69-ball 114 helped Punjab beat Mumbai by 5 runs in a rain-curtailed game. Choosing to bat, Punjab started sedately, their openers putting on 59 before Abhishek Raut removed Manan Vohra for 21 in the 10th over. Jaskaranveer, the other opener, continued to pile on the runs even as wickets fell steadily at the other end, with Himanshu Chawla the only other Punjab batsman to get into double figures. Raut picked up two more wickets and Jay Bista inflicted two run-outs, but Jaskaranveer, hitting 12 fours and five sixes in his maiden T20 hundred, lifted Punjab to 173 for 6. Mumbai lost opener Shoaib Shaikh in the second over of their chase when he was trapped leg before by Sandeep Sharma. A rain delay forced Mumbai’s target to be revised to 82 in eight overs, by the VJD method. The loss of Akhil Herwadkar left them at 18 for 2, but Bista kept them in sight of their target with a 23-ball 47, before his dismissal in the final over. Mumbai needed nine to win from the last two balls, but Taruwar Kohli only conceded three to win the game for his side. Driems Cricket Stadium: Odisha 162/7 in 20 overs (Govinda Podder 61, Suryakant Pradhan 28 n.o; Chandra P Singh 2/12, Manjeet Kumar Choudhary 2/36) lost to Rajasthan 166/4 in 19.4 overs (Ankit lamba 67 n.o; Sourav Chouhan 35, Ashok Menaria 42; Deepak Behera 2/27) by 6 wickets. Punjab 173/6 in 20 overs (Jaskaran Sahi 114 n.o; Abhishek Rout 3/22) beat Mumbai 76/3 in 8 overs (Jay Bista 47) by 5 runs in a rain-curtailed game.
Dhenkanal, CRPF, ECoR, Sundargarh win
Bhubaneswar: Dhenkanal, CRPF, East Coast Railway and Sundargarh defeated Deogarh, KIIT, Paradip Port Trust and Mayurbhanj respectively in the Nalco Cup State Hockey Championship at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Thursday. The match between Dhenkanal and Deogarh ended in 2-2 goals draw in the stipulated time and Dhenkanal won the match by 7-5 goals. Deogarh got the early lead in the match, Saroj Tigga and Jatin Barla of Deogarh netted a goal each in the 15th and 19th minutes respectively. Dhenkanal bounced back in style, DK Nag and Sanjay Kumar Mahant scored a goal each in the 32nd and 33rd minutes respectively and leveled the score. Rajesh Kindo (8th), Susil Tete (9th), Javed Khan (10th,30th), Rohen Sing (26th), Vikram Sharma (38th) and Simon Tirkey (58th) of CRPF scored goal and the team edged out KIIT by 7-0 goals. East Coast Railway and Sundargarh pipped Paradip Port Trust and Mayurbhanj by 9-1 and 7-1 goals respectively. Arbin Barla (2nd,38th,41st), Deepak lugun (39th,45th,52nd,68th), Sunil Toppo (33rd) and Rajin Kandulna (43rd) scored for the Railway and Erness Surin (38th) of Paradip Port Trust scored the solitary goal. Similarly, in another high scoring match, Amit Chirmako (3rd, 52nd), Tikei Kujur (5th), Sudhir Kujur (11th,56th), Ashwin Kujur (57th) and A Tete (68th) scored for the Sundargarh. Bharat Bhusan Sethi of the Mayurbhanj scored a goal in the 67th minute.
Rajeev to take part in Rugby course
Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s rugby player Rajeev Kumar Nath has been nominated and selected by the Indian Rugby Football Union as a participate and attend the World Rugby level 2 Strength and Conditioning Course being organised in Tokyo, Japan from April 7 to 10. Rajeev always a member of our State team, his contribution for the national team also remarkable, I wished him for his carrier, said Odisha Rugby Football Association Secretary Upendra Kumar Mohanty.