The senior men’s inter-district cricket tournament “Kalahandi Cup”, organized under the auspices of the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA), was won by Sundargarh. Sundargarh defeated Cuttack-A by 2 wickets to win the trophy, while Cuttack-A had to settle for the runner-up position.
In the final match played on Wednesday at Barabati Stadium, Sundargarh won the toss and invited Cuttack-A to bat first. Batting first, Cuttack-A scored 232 runs for 9 wickets in 50 overs, with Saideep Mahapatra scoring a half-century (74 runs off 104 balls).
For Sundargarh, Soumya Lenka, Krishna Palei, Abhishek Singh, and Govinda Poddar each took 2 wickets, keeping the Cuttack-A batting under control.
In reply, Sundargarh successfully chased the target of 233 runs, scoring 233 for 8 in 43 overs to secure the victory. Soumya Lenka of Sundargarh was adjudged the best player of the match.
At the prize distribution ceremony, the chief guest was former international cricketer and BCCI match referee Sanjay Raul. The guests of honour included OCA President Pankaj Lochan Mohanty, Secretary Sanjay Behera, Joint Secretary Prabhat Bhol, Treasurer Bikash Pradhan, and members Dr. Anjan Kumar Khuntia, Sagarnath Mishra, Tadit Kumar Rout, Anil Kumar Biswal, Sushant Kumar Mohanty, Santosh Das, Shivabrata Mallik, Amit Behera, and Swagat Samantaray.
They awarded the champion team Sundargarh the trophy along with a cash prize of ₹5 lakh, while the runner-up team Cuttack-A received a trophy and ₹3 lakh as prize money.
