Stumps of Western Samurai (Rourkela) skipper Nataraj Behera go flying in the second semi-final match against Balasore Baghas at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Saturday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Bhubaneswar/ Cuttack, June 11: Leaders of Group A, Western Samurai (Rourkela) took on runners-up of Group B Balasore Baghas in the second semi-final encounter of the Orissa Premier League (OPL) at Barabati Stadium today.

Batting first after winning the toss, Rourkela put up 115 runs for the loss of seven wickets.

The first wicket fell in the form of skipper and explosive batsman, Nataraj Behera, who fell for just one run. Behera, who had scored a century for Rourkela in the last match against Angul Tuskers and is one of the frontrunners for the man of the series award, was dismissed in the first ball of the second over. Alok Mangaraj claimed his wicket.

The team then suffered a major batting collapse and was struggling at 52 for five at the end of 13 overs. Girija Rout steadied the innings and was the top scorer with 47 runs. For the Baghas, Sk. Amzit scalped three wickets while Abhilash Mallick took one.

Till reports last came in, Balasore had not come out to bat.

In another match, hot favourites Katak Barabati Tigers (Cuttack) romped into the finals following a three-wicket win over JSP Sparks (Jagatsinghpur) yesterday. The Sparks had set a target of 135 for the Cuttack team with Sameer Mohanty scoring 60 runs.

In reply, Cuttack achieved the total with three balls to spare. Pravanjan Mallick, who remained not out at 66, was the hero of the match.

After the team had lost five wickets in quick succession, Mallick put up a 55-run stand with Bhabani Mohanty (17). Cuttack required eight runs off the last over but taking advantage of misfielding by the Sparks’ side, Pravanjan steered his team to victory.

Jagatsinghpur’s Deepak Behera, Saiba Singh, Sobhan Dev and Jamla Bhanjan Mohapatra claimed one wicket each.

The winners of today’s match will clash with Cuttack for the final match on Sunday evening. In the morning, JSP Sparks (Jagatsinghpur) would meet the loser of today’s match in a “play-off” for the third and fourth positions.

Secretary of the Orissa Cricket Association, Ashirbad Behera said he is expecting around 30000 people to turn up at the Barabati for the finals. Currently, the stadium has a seating capacity of 40000, Behera said.

While the tournament champions would get a cash prize of Rs 4 lakh, the runners-up would receive Rs 2 lakh. The teams that finish in third and fourth positions would get Rs 1lakh and Rs 50,000, respectively.