Odisha vs Railways, SMAT 2024, Today Match Prediction 25 November 2024

ODSA vs RWS Match Prediction & Analysis

Odisha and Railways have not had a great couple of years in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. In the last two editions, both teams finished outside the qualification places for the knockout stages. After finishing well clear of the top two places, both teams will be aiming for some positivity as the new season kicks off. As a result of their first meeting since 2007, this game could provide the impetus for a winner to get a positive start. For this reason, the upcoming meeting at Vizianagaram is expected to be a competitive game.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Odisha Preview

Odisha had a difficult and inconsistent conclusion to the 2023 season after finishing significantly away from the top two places. A strong start to the coming campaign, though, can provide the team with a psychological boost. Odisha also happened to go through a late collapse against Vidarbha in the opening match of the 2024 season. Despite being in a strong position after 10 overs, Odisha ended up 33 runs short of the target.

There was a lot of good work done early in the game through the partnership between Swastik Samal and Gourav Choudhury. It appeared to be a comfortable chase to the target for Odisha, but the situation changed dramatically after the two openers went back to the pavilion. Samal was able to come up with a half-century as he put in a top performance.

Pradeep Pradhan was the top bowler for the team after picking up four wickets while also having the best economy figures of 8.25. The lack of contribution from the bowlers, who were thrashed all over the park, was one of the reasons behind Odisha’s defeat.

Odisha Predicted Playing XI:

Swastik Samal, Gourav Choudhury, Sandeep Pattnaik, Govinda Poddar (c), Aasirwad Swain, Prabin Luha, Abhishek Yadav, Debabrata Pradhan, Harshit Rathod, Pradeep Pradhan, Tarani Sa

Railways Preview

Railways began the season with some degree of positivity but it has quickly been taken out of the window after the loss against Assam. Railways could not muster a decent total after choosing to bat first and the problems began quite early on for the team. The failure to get past the group stages of the recent campaigns is only likely to add to the psychological pressure on the team.

Upendra Yadav is likely to be keen on coming up with the captain’s performance. Last season, he was able to average around 53 runs along with an impressive strike rate of 164. Yet, his performance in the opener was quite poor after only managing six runs. Ashutosh Sharma was the only player to come up with a decent performance after managing 31 of just 24 balls.

Karn Sharma and Akash Pandey were key players for the team in the bowling department during the 2023 season. Both were able to hit 11 wickets each from their matches with the latter contributing these wickets from just seven games. Sharma, though, was the pick of the bowlers against Assam after finishing with figures of 2/20 from his four overs. Still, Railways need a huge improvement to have any expectation of a victory in the upcoming game.

Railways Predicted Playing XI:

Pratham Singh, Vivek Singh, Samarth Vyas, Upendra Yadav (c), Akash Pandey, Navneet Virk, Ashutosh Sharma, Karn Sharma, Raj Choudhary, Susheel Kumar, Kunal Yadav

Weather Conditions

Assam almost failed to chase down a modest target with a pitch producing an average score of just over 125. A similar outcome is expected when Odisha and Railways meet up against each other. Odisha is expected to be playing in partly cloudy conditions for this match with maximum temperatures only hitting 29°C.

ODSA vs RWS Pitch Report

The Dr PVG Raju ACA Sports Complex in Vizianagaram will be hosting its second consecutive match just days after witnessing the game between Railways and Assam. The venue is expected to come up with a bowler-friendly pitch.

Toss: To Bowl

Ray Lewis chose to bat first and finished with a defeat. Odisha had chosen to bowl first but still came out with a similar result. The Dr PVG Raju ACA Sports Complex is expected to have a difficult wicket for batsmen and the preference will be to bat first.