KOLKATA: After beginning their campaign on a winning note in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Odisha on Tuesday slumped to an 8-wicket loss against Himachal Pradesh in their Group B game at BKC ground in Mumbai.
Electing to bat first, the Odisha batters failed miserably and were reduced to 69 for 6 in 14th over. It was Abhishek Yadav (38) and Rakesh Pattanaik's (40) partnership of 65 runs that finally helped Odisha reach 138 for 7 in their 20 overs. But it was too little as Himachal Pradesh reached the target losing just two wickets and with 21 balls to spare.
Thanks to Ekant Sen and Prashant Chopra, HP reached the 50-run mark without losing any wicket. Odisha had something to cheer for after Debabrata Pradhan removed Sen and Sunil Roul got the wicket of Chopra to make it 82 for 2.
But that didn't stop HP from stomping towards victory as Sumeet Verma put up a show. Coming at first down, Verma, who was brought in as an impact player, took the Odisha bowlers apart hitting seven fours and four sixes to take HP to victory. In the end, Verma stayed unbeaten on 58 off 23 balls with Akash Vasisht scoring 4 off 4.
Earlier, Odisha struggled from the very word go and were reduced to 5 for 3 in the fourth over itself. Prayash Kumar Singh, who came in place of Subhransu Senapati as an impact player, however, got the scoreboard ticking with 26 off 17 balls. But on the other end Sandeep Pattanaik failed to do much and was the fourth batter to depart scoring 7 off 19 balls.
For Himachal, Rishi Dhawan picked up two wickets while Pankaj Jaswal, Kanwar Abhinay, Arpit Guleria, Mayank Dagar and Vasisht chipped in with a wicket each.
Brief scores: Odisha 138 for 7 in 20 overs (Rakesh Pattanaik 40; Rishi Dhawan 2/27). Himachal Pradesh 140 for 2 in 16.3 overs (Sumeet Verma 58 n.o.; Debabrata Pradhan 1/13). Himachal Pradesh won by 8 wickets
