Bhubaneswar/Ranchi: After losing to the home side Jharkhand by eight wickets, Anurag Sarangi-led Odisha crashed out of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy today. Bengal and Jharkhand topped the East Zone standings with 16 and 12 points respectively. With two wins against Assam and Tripura, Odisha remained at number three with eight points.
Today, Jharkhand chased down the target of 124 set by Odisha quite comfortably in 16.4 overs by losing only two wickets. After Virat Singh's early dismissal in the fifth over, Ishan Kishan (51) and Ishank Jaggi (40) added 84 runs to put Jharkhand in the driver's seat in the crucial last game of the East Zone leg.
For Odisha, Govinda Poddar picked up the first wicket while Debabrata Pradhan broke the second wicket stand by bowling out Ishan Kishan just after his half-century.
Earlier in the game, Odisha was off to a terrible start after winning the toss and batting first with both the openers getting out with only 22 runs on board. Odisha was in dire straits with 59/6 after which experienced Govinda Poddar carried on the recovery work by putting on a 60-run partnership with Abhishek Raut.
Poddar scored 64 off 42 deliveries with the help of five boundaries and four hits over the ropes. Odisha was bowled out for only 123 in 19.4 overs despite Govinda's half-century. Monu Kumar picked up four wickets for Jharkhand.