Bhubaneswar: The Tillo Cup 2026 witnessed two one-sided games being played on Tuesday, at the Hanuman Jew Stadium. Notably, the NCC Odisha and CAG Delhi kicked off their campaign in style.
In the first game, Odisha were up against the challenge of MHKL Banaras. The decision to bowl first reaped fruits for Odisha, as they dismissed five batters inside the powerplay. Rupak Singh (12) was the biggest contributor, as Banaras were bundled out for 57 in 14.1 overs. Rakesh Pattnaik and Pradeep Kumar Pradhan bagged two wickets each for Odisha. Although, Odisha lost their two batters early, Mukesh Kumar Jr remained unbeaten on 36 off 18 to take them home in 7.1 overs and six wickets to spare.
The second game saw CAG Delhi locking horns with SPJ Cargo Delhi. SPJ won the toss and chose to bowl first. CAG lost Kartik Biswal (0) in the first over, but the duo of Vedant Bhardwaj (35) and Abhirath Reddy (35) steadied the ship with positive intent. Arriving at No. 4, Sumit Mathur played a special knock to continue the team's momentum. The experienced all-rounder Writtick Chatterjee could not make full use of the opportunity, and was dismissed for 4.
However, Gurinder Singh joined hands with Mathur to dominate the opposition bowlers, who had no answers to their onslaught. Mathur missed a well-deserved century, slamming 99 off 45, with nine fours and seven sixes. Meanwhile, Gurinder remained unbeaten on 58 off 28 to boost team's total to 236. Although, Vivek Kumar conceded 60 runs off his four overs, he took two wickets. In response, SPJ got off to a bad start, as opener Kunal Singh (2) and captain Aditya Purohit (0) couldn't rise to the occasion. Vishal Kashyap (29) and Aryan Chaudhary (18) tried well, but failed to convert their starts.
Sunil Dagar (30) was the highest contributor for SPJ, as the rest of the batters couldn't be potent enough. In the end, they were all-out for 130, and lost by 106 runs. Mohit Pradeep Jain and Ankit Mishra were terrific with three wickets each for CAG. The Group B points table has NCC Odisha at the top with a net run rate of +6.300, after a dominating victory. Another victory could help them earn a spot in the top four. Meanwhile, CAG Delhi is second in the standings with a net run rate of +5.300. They will now look to continue their strong showing to confirm their place in the semifinals.
