Dhiraj scalps six wickets to fashion Orissa win

Dhiraj Singh bagged six wickets with his left-arm spin bowling to fashion an innings and 86-run victory for Orissa over Rajasthan on the penultimate day of their four-day C K Nayudu Trophy under-22 cricket match at Nimpur ground in Cuttack today. After taking a first innings lead of 244 runs, host Orissa rode on the impressive bowling performance of Dhiraj to dismiss the opposition for 158 in the second innings. Earlier, the home side added 110 run to their overnight first innings score of 378 for three before being all out for 488. Among the leading run-getters of the day, Orissa captain Atish Jena made 47, while opener Nataraj Behera added 16 runs to his overnight unfinished score of 163. Behera faced 309 balls for his 179-run knock, which was studded with 26 boundaries. Brief scores: Rajasthan: 244 and 158 (Arjit Gupta 45: Dhiraj Singh 6/59, Lagnajit Samal 2/21, Alok Sahoo 2/40) lost to Orissa: 488 (Natraj Behera 179, Sandeep Mulia 173, Atish Jena 47: Sumit Khatri 3/91, Haridhar Singh 2/83, Azharuddin Khan 2/89).