Cuttack: A closely contested match ended with Sambalpur Warriors clinching a thrilling win against Rourkela Steelers by just one run at the Barabati Stadium.

Chasing a target of 195, Sambit Kumar Sahoo and Saideep Mohapatra opened the innings for Rourkela Steelers. While Sambit made 7 off 7 balls, Saideep scored 42 off 28 balls. Aashirwad Swain added 26 off 20 balls. Sambit Baral played a valiant knock of 58 off 26 balls, while Binayak Sahoo contributed 20 off 14 balls.

For Sambalpur Warriors, Sumit Sharma (2/15), Rakesh Pattnaik (2/26), Vimal Kumar (2/26), and Priyanshu Mohanty (2/12) picked up two wickets each.

Earlier, Rourkela Steelers won the toss and elected to bowl first. Aditya Rout and Shreyansh Bhardwaj gave Sambalpur Warriors a flying start, adding 120 runs for the opening wicket. Aditya was dismissed for 68 off 44 balls, while Shreyansh scored 52 off 40 balls. Subhranshu Senapati chipped in with 36 off 20 balls. Towards the end, Prayash Singh remained unbeaten on 28* off 13 balls, helping Sambalpur Warriors post 194/3 in 20 overs.

For Rourkela Steelers, Jamala Mohapatra (1/22), Sambit Baral (1/44), and Sobhan Dev Behera (1/43) took one wicket each.

Aditya Rout (POM)- “T20 games always go right down to the last over and the last ball. Luckily, today we ended up on the winning side. But we did make some mistakes, which we will rectify. In the next match, we’ll try not to repeat those errors so that we don’t come under pressure until the very end. Since the match was under lights, the dew factor came in during the second innings, making it difficult for the ball to grip, so defending wasn’t easy. But yes, our bowling was a bit poor in patches, and we will rectify that in the next match. When you perform well in the first match and the team wins, it feels good. Going forward, hopefully I’ll be able to contribute to more wins for the team.”

–IANS

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