24-Nov-2009 132
Pravanjan Mullick cracked an unbeaten half-century, while Halhadar Das missed it by a whisker as Orissa scored 203 for five against Hyderabad on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Super League (Group-A) match at Hyderabad today.
Mullick played the sheet anchor’s role with a defiant 73, which was studded with six fours. In the company of Das (49), he stitched a 93-run partnership to resurrect Orissa’s first innings after an early collapse at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Put into bat, Orissa lost openers Bikas Pati (2) and skipper Shiv Sunder Das (19) to totter at 27 for two. Niranjan Behera (7) also didn’t stay long and was bowled by Alfred Absolem in the 20th over. Rakesh Mohanty (42) then joined hands with Mullick and the two forged a 50-run partnership before the former was sent packing in the 41st over by Munagala Praneet Arjun.
Das then joined Mullick and the two picked up ones and twos before their partnership was broken by Arjun in the 81st over. For Hyderabad, Arjun scalped three wickets giving away 30 runs in 19 overs, while Absolem and Khader bagged a wicket each.
