Players of Western Samurai (Rourkela) with the OPL trophy at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Bhubaneswar/ Cuttack, June 13: Western Samurai (Rourkela) beat hot favourite Katak Barabati Tigers (Cuttack) by four runs to win the first Orissa Premier League (OPL) in an exciting low-scoring clash that went down to the last ball.

Batting first, Rourkela had set an “easy” target of 113 runs for the home team. In reply, the formidable Barabati Tigers made an aggressive start, but failed to maintain the momentum. The middle-order batsmen seemed to choke under the pressure of winning the cup. Wickets fell at crucial points and, as no stable partnership could be formed, Pravanjan Mallick (40 not out) was left fighting a lone battle.

After bowling the last ball of the match, a jubilant Basant Mohanty uprooted the stumps and ran around the field in celebration. He did not even care to allow the batsmen to complete the run. Fireworks display started around the stadium. The cricket-crazy crowd also jumped over the barricades and entered the ground to join in the revelry.

There was a loud cheer as the champion team received the OPL trophy and a cheque for Rs 4lakh. “We were confident that we could defend the total since we had a good bowling attack. The credit goes to the entire team who delivered when it mattered the most,” said Rourkela captain Natraj Behera.

Cuttack took away Rs 2lakh and its skipper Biplab Samantaray was adjudged the man of the series. He got a cash prize of Rs 25,000 and a brand new red Ford Figo car. Pacer Amit Das got Rs 25,000 for the man of the match award.

The teams placed in third and fourth positions, Jagatsinghpur and Balasore received Rs 1lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively. Both teams had clashed in a “play off” on Sunday morning in which JSP Sparks (Jagatsinghpur) defeated their opponents by eight wickets.

Jagatsinghpur’s Subhit Biswal was declared as best batsman of the tournament, while Cuttack’s Bibhudutta was named as the best bowler. They were both given Rs 10,000 and a Yamaha SZ motorbike.

Putting up a brave face, captain of the losing side, Biplab, said he hoped the Cuttack team would come back as a better unit in the next edition of OPL. “We failed to capitalise in the middle overs and lost wickets steadily. This pushed the required run rate to nine per over in the last five overs. But the better side won by putting up a brilliant all round performance,” he said.

According to Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) officials, around 35,000 spectators had turned up for the final match yesterday at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack. The security personnel had a tough time in controlling the upbeat crowd.

“We had not anticipated such a large crowd. We had made arrangements for a limited number of celebrities and other dignitaries to watch the match,” said OCA secretary Ashirbad Behera, adding that efforts were initiated to keep the crowd away from the boundary line. “There was no problems regarding discipline on the field and the match proceedings were also not affected for a single minute. We are planning a token system for the spectators from next year onwards,” Behera said.

The OCA would soon hold a meeting with all the franchises to discuss the modalities for the next edition of OPL. The 22-day-long OPL had kicked off on May 22 in which ten teams representing ten cities/towns of the state had participated. Apart from Cuttack, Rourkela, Jagatsinghpur and Balasore, which qualified for the semi-finals, the other participating teams were Bhubaneswar, Angul, Berhampur, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar and Berhampur.