Ankit Yadav of Kashvi Power Ranger strikes against Balasore Baghas at the OPL match in Cuttack’s Barabati Stadium. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Bhubaneswar, June 2: A possible ‘clash of the titans’ turned into a battle between the favourites and the underdogs, given the fluctuating fortunes of the Bhubaneswar Jaguars in the tournament so far. Reeling at the fourth place in Group A, the Jaguars took on the leader, Katak Barabati Tigers (Cuttack), at the Railway Stadium here today.

However, today, the Bhubaneswar bowlers made up for the previous losses as they ripped apart Cuttack’s batting line-up, restricting them to 130 runs in 20 overs. Skipper, Biplab Samantaray made 44 runs but none of the partnerships lasted long. They lost eight wickets, out of which Sukant Hati claimed four by conceding 36 runs. As per latest updates, the Jaguars were going strong at 52 for one in 8.1 overs.

Keonjhar’s Kashvi Power Rangers faced Balasore Baghas at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack today. Opting to bat first, the Keonjhar side scored 126 runs in 20 overs after losing nine wickets. Ankit Das top-scored with 35 runs while Arya Debasish Bhatta and captain P.R. Sinha made 27 and 18 runs, respectively. For the Baghas, Krushna Mohanty, Abhilash Mallick, Prabir Nayak and Alok Mangaraj took two wickets each. Till reports last came in, the Balasore side was 23 for one in four overs.

Just when the Bhubaneswar Jaguars seemed to have found the winning formula, Cooperative Kings Dhenkanal led by Shiv Sunder Das tripped them at the Barabati Stadium yesterday. Back once again to their losing ways, the Jaguars fell short of their target by just eight runs.

Incidentally, the Jaguars had registered their only win out of five matches played so far against the Dhenkanal side. Batting first, the Cooperative Kings had scored 157 runs for four in 20 overs with brilliant batting by Tukuna Sahu (59), Shiv Sunder Das (43) and Haldhar Das (37).

In reply, Bhubaneswar batsmen also put up a good show as Anurag Sarangi scored 44 runs and Bikash Pati made 40 runs. However, they botched up their chase and ended with a loss.

In a thrilling encounter yesterday, JSP Sparks (Jagatsinghpur) defeated Angul Tuskers in the “super over” to win their fourth match of the OPL tournament. The Sparks had set a target of 97 runs for the Tuskers, whose batting line-up also collapsed and the scores were tied at 96 at the end of 20 overs. Both teams thus had to play a “super over” (tie-breaker) to decide the match’s outcome. In the super over, the Sparks overhauled Angul’s total of 11 runs in just five balls and are leading Group B with eight points.

At the Railway Stadium here, Western Samurai (Rourkela) won their third consecutive match of the tournament by beating Puri Emperors by four wickets.

The Emperors, who are struggling with batting, had scored 105 runs. The Rourkela team achieved the total with two balls to spare.