Tripura fail to romp home inspite of Debnath's heroics

The East Zone Cooch Behar Trophy match between Tripura and Orissa at the Polytechnic Institute Ground in Agartala ended in a draw with Tripura taking 5 points due to a massive 130 run lead while Orissa had to be content with three.

It was always a tough asking to score 250 runs for a win on the final day and Orissa managed to scratch 207 runs while losing nine wickets in the bargain. S Biswal (85) was the chief contributor, sharing a 220 ball, 100 run partnership for the fourth wicket with N Behara (62). J Debnath (3 for 69) and T Saha (3 for 34) were the successful bowlers for Tripura.

In the morning, Tripura who resumed at 101 for 8 in their second innings, were all out for 119. Rasudeb Dutta (47), who waged a lone battle for over 173 minutes, was the top scorer for Tripura. SK Jahangir (4 for 45) reaped a rich harvest for Orissa.

On the opening day, Tripura who opted to bat put up a fighting 240 on the board. Tripura were chiefly helped by many small but useful partnerships along the way. The topscorer being Sandip Bannerjee with a well compiled 47 off 114 balls. In reply Orissa had to confront the medium pacers of J Debnath (7 for 37) and finding him too hard to handle were bundled out for just 110 runs.