Shiv Sunder Das of Cooperative Kings Dhenkanal batting against Bhubaneswar Jaguars at Cuttack Barabati Stadium. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Bhubaneswar, June 1: Bhubaneswar Jaguars faced Cooperative Kings Dhenkanal at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack today. The Jaguars had defeated the same team in their last outing.

Batting first, the Dhenkanal team scored 157 runs for four in 20 overs. In the last five overs, they put up 53 runs, albeit with the loss of three wickets. Tukuna Sahu was the top scorer with 59 runs. Captain Shiv Sunder Das made 43 runs and Haldhar Das scored 37 runs. For Bhubaneswar Jaguars, Jayant Behera, Sukant Hati and Purna Moharana claimed one wicket each. Till reports last came in, the Bhubaneswar Jaguars were 36 runs for one in six overs.

Puri Emperors met Western Samurai (Rourkela) at the Railway Stadium here. Batting first, the Emperors failed to recover from their poor form and could manage to score just 105 runs for the loss of seven wickets. Rajesh Sethy scored 32 runs. Rourkela’s Kritanjit Das and Santosh Maharana took two wickets each. As per latest updates, Western Samurai were 50 for three in 9.5 overs.

In the third match, Angul Tuskers clashed with JSP Sparks (Jagatsinghpur) at Gopabandhu Stadium, Paradip. The Sparks floundered badly and put up a total of 96 for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs. Skipper, Rashmi Ranjan Das was the lone saving grace who made 44 runs. Angul’s Saurav Sehgal and Sukanta Sahu took two wickets each.

Yesterday, Katak Barabati Tigers suffered their first loss in the OPL tournament losing out to Balasore Baghas in a cliffhanger of a match. They lost by just one run at their home ground, Barabati Stadium. The Baghas had set a target of 135 runs, thanks to Govind Poddar’s blistering knock of 69 runs off 40 deliveries.

Cuttack’s Pravanjan Mallick made 42 runs while captain, Biplab Samanataray scored 32 runs. However, the rest of the batsmen failed to impress and the target before the team was 30 runs in the last three overs. Batsman Sagar Rout kept the host team’s hopes alive by garnering 23 runs in 10 balls. However, it was not enough to guide the team to a victory.

Meanwhile, Puri Tuskers succumbed to a humiliating 55-run defeat at the hands of JSP Sparks (Jagatsinghpur) at Paradip. Batting first, the Sparks had scored 120 runs for five and captain, Rashmi Ranjan Das scored 53 runs. In reply, the Emperors were skittled out for 75 runs. Except for captain, Rakesh Mohanty and Sumitosh Praharaj, no other batsman could manage to reach double-digit figures. Jagatsinghpur’s Shobhan Dev and Tapendra Singh took three wickets each.

At the Railway Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Western Samurai (Rourkela) defeated Angul Tuskers by 31 runs. Despite the captain, Nataraj Behera not playing, the team won its third out of four matches played so far. The Tuskers managed to reach 107 runs in 20 overs in reply to a target of 139 runs.