Orissa coast to eight wicket victory

Orissa cruised to an eight wicket victory over Tripura in their East Zone Ranji Trophy one day league match at the Samanta Chandrasekhar college ground, Puri on Tuesday.

Opting to bat, Tripura were all out for 173 in 48.2 overs. They lost two wickets for 37 runs but a third wicket partnership of 82 runs off 24.2 overs between C Sachdev (77) and skipper MS Kadrekar (34) saw Tripura make a recovery. But the remaining batsmen came a cropper particularly against the bowling of SS Raul who finished with five wickets for 31 off ten overs. Sachdev who batted 2-1/2 hours, faced 118 balls and hit eight fours and two sixes.

Orissa did not face any problems in reaching their modest target. P Das (23) and skipper RR Parida (74 not out) added 69 runs for the second wicket off 14.4 overs and then Parida and Raul (39 not out) hastened the victory with an unbroken third wicket partnership of 84 runs off 15.2 overs. Parida faced 78 balls and hit eleven fours and a six while Raul capped a fine match by hitting two fours and three sixes in his 56-ball knock.