Govinda Podder smashed an unbeaten, run-a-ball 77 to lift Odisha to an eight-wicket win against Assam in their Group A match in Cuttack. In a low-scoring encounter in which both Assam and Odisha were bowled out for less than 100 in their first innings, Assam led by 141 at stumps on the second day with two wickets in hand, but Suryakant Pradhan wrapped up their innings with no further addition to the run-tally to end with figures of 5 for 27.
Arup Das and Pritam Das picked up a wicket each early in the chase, as Odisha lost both their openers with the score still on 31. However, two differently-paced innings – Anurag Sarangi’s 101-ball 29 and Podder’s counterattacking 77 – combined well to take Odisha past the finishing line.
Odisha 88 (Krishna Das 7-21) and 142 for 2 (Podder 77*, Sarangi 29*) beat Assam 137 (Syed Mohammed 42* Tarjinder 27, Pradhan 5-27) and 92 (B Mohanty 5-24) by eight wickets