Ranchi/Bhubaneswar: In its second game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, Odisha defeated Assam by 51 runs and secured four points to open its account. Prior to this match, Odisha had lost to Bengal by seven wickets on Monday.
Chasing a modest target of 129 in 20 overs set by Odisha, Assam was bowled out for only 77 in 17.2 overs. Assam started off on a poor note as Pallav Das got run-out in the second over of the innings. Although other opener Rishav Das (26) batted well at one end, he didn't get good support from the middle-order apart from Amit Sinha (17). For Odisha, Abhishek Raut and Prayas Singh Thakur scalped three wickets each while Suryakanta Pradhan and all-rounder Paresh Patel claimed one each.
Being invited to bat first, Odisha lost wickets at regular intervals. After adding 22 runs for the opening wicket with skipper Anurag Sarangi, Rajesh Dhuper was sent back by Pritam Das for 11. Anurag with the help of four boundaries managed to score 22 off 13 balls before getting out to Jyoti Barman. In the middle order Debasish Samantaray scored 25 off 25 balls. For Assam, Abu Nechim Ahmed and Pritam Das took two wickets each.
Odisha with four points from two games will now meet a relatively weaker Tripura in its next game in Ranchi on Friday.