Tangi (Cuttack) 05-Nov-2012 195
Rain, caused by cyclone Nilam, ruined the hopes of Odisha and Tamil Nadu as the Group-B Ranji Trophy match between the two sides ended in a disappointing draw here at the DRIEMS Cricket Stadium today. Hoping to start campaign on a winning note, both the sides had to contend themselves with one point each eventually.
Only 176 minutes (33.1 overs) of play was possible in the four-day match and in that period last year’s runners-up Tamil Nadu made 67 for three in their first innings after being put into bat by host Odisha skipper Natraj Behera on a grassy pitch that offered good bounce.
The star-studded Tamil Nadu side with five internationals in their rank, struggled against the home team’s three-pronged pace attack and were reduced to 66 for two on the truncated opening day. Alok Mangaraj gave Odisha the first breakthrough, having Vijay caught brilliantly in the third slip by Rakesh Mohanty. Dependable No 3 batsman Badrinath too struggled before being comprehensively castled by a gem of a delivery from Basant Mohanty.
No play was possible on the second and fourth day, while just 2.1 overs could be bowled on the third. In the 13 minutes of action on the penultimate day, crisis deepened further for Tamil Nadu as they lost other opener Abhinav Mukund, who was trapped in front of the wicket by Mangaraj for 21.
The Odisha team management included Sandip Mulia in the playing XI, thus giving the young opener a chance to make his first-class debut.
This was the fifth Ranji match between Odisha and Tamil Nadu and in the past four meetings Tamil Nadu won two and drew the other two after taking first innings lead.
And for DRIEMS Cricket Stadium, this was the second Ranji Trophy match at the picturesque venue. In the first one, Odisha lost to Mumbai by an innings and 210 runs in the year 2011.
TEAMS:
Odisha: Natraj Behera (Captain), Sandip Mulia, Govind Poddar, Biplab Samantaray (Vice-captain), Abhilash Mallick, Rakesh Mohanty, Haladhar Das (wk), Basant Mohanty, Alok Mangaraj, Deepak Behera, Dhiraj Singh.
Tamil Nadu: Laxmipathy Balaji (Capt), Abhinav Mukund, Murali Vijay, Subramaniam Badrinath, Baba Aparajith, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravichandra Ashwin, Muruganan Ashwin, Jagannathan Kaushik, M Mohammad, Ramaswamy Prasanna.
SCOREBOARD
TAMILNADU (1st innings): A Mukund lbw Mangaraj 21, M Vijay c R Mohanty b Mangaraj 15, S Badrinath b B Mohanty 11, B Aparajith (not out) 4; Extras (b-8, lb-2, w-1, nb-5) 16
Total (3 wkts; 31 overs) 67
Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-58, 3-66
Bowling: Basant Mohanty 13.1-3-27-1, Alok Mangaraj 11-4-21-2, Deepak Behera 8-3-9-0, Biplab Samantaray 1-1-0-0.
ODISHA-TAMIL NADU RANJI MATCHES:
Match No 1 (1998-99 at Chepuk, Chennai): Odisha 194 (Gautam Gopal 71, P Jayachandra 58; Kumaran six wkts) and 248 (Pravanjan Mullick 83, captain Sanjay Raul 62) lost to TN 483/7 decl (Hemang Badani 122, Rouben Paul 100 n.o; Debasis Mohanty 3 wkts) by an innings and 41 runs.
Match No 2 (1999-2000 at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack): TN 327 (Dedbasis, Ajay Barik and Bipin Singh 3 wkts ech) and 309/8 decl (Sanjay Satpathy 3 wkts, Debasis Mohanty and Pravanjan Mullick 2 each) drew with Odisha 195 (Yashpal Mohanty 59 n.o) and 311/3 (Rashmi Parida 147 n.o, SS Das 83).
Match No 3 (2002-03 at Chepuk, Chennai): Odisha 122 (Balaji 5 wkts) and 156 (Balaji 6 wkts)lost to TN 314 (S Sriram 94, H Badani 86) by an innings and 36 runs.
Match No 4 (2009-10 at Sambalpur): TN 361 (Arun Karthik 118, Anirudh Srikanth 53, C Ganapathi 72; Dhiraj Singh 4 wkts) and 375/8 (Dinesh Karthik 152, A Srikanth 81) drew with Odisha 327 (SS Das 119, Niranjan Behera 95).
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PHOTO: Odisha speedster Alok Mangaraj in action against Tamil Nadu on Nov 2, 2012.
