BHUBANESWAR 13-Nov-2010 153
Last three batsmen survived 10 anxious overs to enable Orissa escape defeat on the fourth and last day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group-B match against Uttar Pradesh at Lucknow today. Forced to follow on after conceding a first innings lead of 158 runs, Orissa battled their way to 171 for nine in the second before the match ended in a draw. Host UP gained three points from the exciting game, while Orissa contended themselves with one point.
Earlier electing to bat, UP played slow and steady not only to overcome a bad start but also compile a strong total of 403 in the first innings. In reply, Orissa suffered a top order collapse to be dismissed for 245. Natraj Behera scored his maiden first-class century and Debasis Mohanty hit an useful 40 to save Orissa from total failure. Test discard Rudra Pratap Singh caused maximum damage to Orissa’s first innings, bagging six wickets for 50 runs.
In the second innings, Orissa again suffered a top order failure, losing four wickets for 68 runs. However, the home team’s all-out attempt to win the match was foiled due to useful contributions by first innings century maker Natraj Behera (36), all-rounders Biplab Samantaray (45) and Alok Sahoo (21).
UP came close to fulfill their goal once more, grabbing three wickets for five runs. But Basant Mohanty and Dhiraj Singh kept the last wicket partnership intact for 3.3 overs to rescue Orissa from the jaws of defeat. Sudip Tyagi and Rudra Pratap Singh bowled magnificently for UP, bagging four and three wickets respectively in the second innings. Orissa now have four points from two matches and would next meet Karnataka at Bangalore from November 24 to 27.
SCOREBOARD:
UTTAR PRADESH (1st innings): Y Srivastava b B Samantaray 13, S Shukla b D Mohanty 1, E Dwivedi c S Sahoo b A Sahoo 83, M Kaif lbw A Sahoo 51, P Singh c Poddar b A Sahoo 78, Amir Khan lbw A Sahoo 47, P Chawla c B Samantaray b D Mohanty 79, P Gupta c Natraj Behera b D Singh 4, RP Singh b R Mohanty 6, S Srivastava c D Singh b D Mohanty 23, S Tyagi (not out) 0; Extras (b-5, lb-8, nb-2, w-3) 18
Total (All out, 176.1 overs) 403
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-28, 3-141, 4-171, 5-282, 6-291, 7-296, 8-320, 9-395, 10-403
Bowling: Debasis Mohanty 25.1-13-37-3, Basant Mohanty 36-12-60-0, Alok Sahoo 36-3-100-4, Biplab Samantaray 13-7-17-1, Dhiraj Singh 45-12-109-1, Rakesh Mohanty 21-1-67-1.
ORISSA (1st innings): Natraj Behera c Kaif b RP Singh 113, S S Das lbw RP Singh 1, Niranjan Behera lbw S Srivastava 0, Govind Poddar b RP Singh 1, Rakesh Mohanty c A Khan b Tyagi 11, Biplab Samantaray b RP Singh 20, Subhrajit Sahoo b RP Singh 6, Alok Sahoo b Gupta 29, Debasis Mohanty (run out) 40, Basant Mohanty lbw RP Singh 5, Dhiraj Singh (not out) 3; Extras (b-2, lb-5, w-2, nb-7) 16
Total (All out, 95.4 overs) 245
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-14, 3-15, 4-42, 5-112, 6-127, 7-172, 8-205, 9-223, 10-245.
Bowling: P Chawla 22-5-65-0, J Srivastava 17.4-2-60-1, RP Singh 23-8-50-6, S Tyagi 14-4-47-1, P Gupta 18-11-15-1, S Shukla 1-0-1-0.
ORISSA (2nd innings): Natraj Behera b RP Singh 36, S S Das c Chawla b RP Singh 3, Govind Poddar c A Khan b Tyagi 15, Niranjan Behera c Shukla b Chawla 18, Rakesh Mohanty b Tyagi 1, Biplab Samantaray c T Srivastava b Chawla 45, Subhrajit Sahoo c Kaif b Tyagi 11, Alok Sahoo lbw Tyagi 21, Debasis Mohanty b RP Singh 2, Basant Mohanty (not out) 1, Dhiraj Singh (not out) 1; Extras (b-8, w-5, nb-4) 17
Total (9 wkts, 81 overs) 171
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-35, 3-65, 4-68, 5-100, 6-137, 7-163, 8-165, 9-168.
Bowling: RP Singh 16-4-29-3, S Srivastava 11-4-25-0, S Tyagi 23-5-61-4, P Chawla 23-9-31-2, P Gupta 8-2-17-0.
