Odisha win first Ranji match after four years

Odisha won a Ranji match after a long gap of four years, defeating host Haryana by four wickets on the fourth and last day of their exciting Group-B clash at Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium in Lahli (Rohtak) today. The win, which fetched six points, was Odisha’s first in 26 Ranji matches. They had posted their last win, trouncing Punjab by nine wickets at the Railway Stadium here on November 26, 2008.

Pace bowlers did the spadework for the win, bagging 19 of the 20 wickets in the match. Basant Mohanty justified himself as the spearhead of the four-pronged pace attack, taking five wickets in the first innings and four in the second for a match haul of nine for 81. Young Alok Mangaraj proved to be an able ally to Mohanty, bagging one wicket in the first innings and four in the second. Biplab Samantaray contributed three wickets in the first and one in the second.

Odisha took firm control of the match from the opening day by dismissing Haryana for a paltry 66. Skipper Natraj Behera (44), all-rounders Lagnajit Samal (43), Biplab Samantray (42) and Deepak Behera (31) then made descent scores to help Odisha make a modest total of 219 and take a vital lead of 153 runs.

Haryana fought back with determination to compile a healthy total of 300 in the second innings and set Odisha a victory target of 148. But chasing the modest target proved to be a tough task for the visitors as wickets fell in regular intervals. However, a defiant half-century, the fourth of his career, by Govind Poddar and an unbeaten 35 by Deepak Behera helped Odisha clinch the memorable victory with four wickets to spare. Behera, who capped the victory with a six off Haryana skipper Amit Mishra.

Meanwhile, Odisha Cricket Association, made two changes in the team for their next match against Karnataka to be played at Bangalore from November 24 to 27. According to the changes, experienced batsman Niranjan Behera and left-arm spinner Sourabh Sehgal will replace all-rounder Rakesh Mohanty and left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh respectively.

SCOREBOARD
HARYANA (1st innings):
N Saini c Poddar b Mohanty 5, R Dewan c Samantaray b Mangaraj 2, Sunny Singh b Mohanty 0, A Khod b Samantaray 12, R Dalal b Behera 21, S Rana c H Das b Mohanty 8, A Mishra c Mangaraj b Mohanty 4, J Yadav b N Behera b Samantaray 4, C Saini lbw Samantaray 0, M Sharma (not out) 5, A Hooda c H Das b Mohanty 2; Extras (nb-3) 3
Total (all out; 32.1 overs) 66
Fall of wickets:
1-6, 2-6, 3-8, 4-41, 5-43, 6-51, 7-58, 8-58, 9-60, 10-66
Bowling: Basant Mohanty 11.1-4-24-5, Alok Mangaraj 8-3-19-1, Biplab Samantaray 10-1-17-3, Deepak Behera 3-1-6-1.
ODISHA (1st innings): Sandip Mulia b Sharma 0, Natraj Behera c Saini B Mishra 44, Govind Poddar c Saini b Sharma 13, Biplab Samantaray b Sharma 42, Abhilash Mallick lbw Sharma 1, Deepak Behera c Saini b Yadav 31, Haladhar Das c Khoda b Sharma 6, Lagnajit Samal lbw Hooda 43, Basant Mohanty (not out) 9, Alok Mangaraj b Hooda 4, Dhiraj Singh b Hooda 1; Extras (b-15, lb-6, w-1, nb-3) 25
Total (all out; 74 overs) 219
Fall of wickets:
1-0, 2-26, 3-73, 4-74, 5-139, 6-143, 7-180, 8-207, 9-211, 10-219
Bowling: Mohit Sharma 21-5-49-5, Chandarpal Saini 7-2-28-0, Sachin Rana 11-4-20-0, Ashish Hooda 15-5-50-3, Amit Mishra 13-3-40-1, Jayant Yadav 7-4-11-1
HARYANA (2nd innings): N Saini b Mangaraj 2, R Dewan c H Das b Mohanty 5, Sunny Singh c N Behera b Mangaraj 36, A Khod c H Das b Mohanty 74, R Dalal lbw Samantaray 16, S Rana c D Singh b Mohanty 29, A Mishra lbw Mangaraj 16, J Yadav (run out) 66, C Saini lbw Mangaraj 15, M Sharma lbw Mohanty 28, A Hooda (not out) 0; Extras (b-6, lb-5, w-1, nb-1) 13
Total (all out; 129.2 overs) 300
Fall of wickets:
1-6, 2-8, 3-58, 4-87, 5-144, 6-187, 7-189, 8-223, 9-295, 10-300
Bowling: Basant Mohanty 31-10-57-4, Alok Mangaraj 32.2-8-82-4, Biplab Samantaray 21-6-50-1, Lagnajit Samal 6-2-17-0, Deepak Behera 15-2-30-0, Dhiraj Singh 23-6-47-0, Govind Poddar 1-0-6-0.
ODISHA (2nd innings): Sandip Mulia lbw Saini 12, Natraj Behera c Dewan b Sharma 17, Govind Poddar b Rana 51, Biplab Samantaray c Rana b Yadav 8, Abhilash Mallick b Saini 3, Haladhar Das b Sharma 7, Deepak Behera (not out) 35, Lagnajit Samal (not out) 12; Extras (b-2, lb-5) 7
Total (6 wkts, 62.1 overs) 152
Fall of wickets:
1-25, 2-42, 3-60, 4-71, 5-81, 6-124
Bowling: Mohit Sharma 18-6-44-2, Sachin Rana 9-0-30-1, Ashish Hooda 12-1-26-0, Chandarpal Saini 14-7-25-2, Amit Mishra 8.1-4-18-0, Jayant Yadav 1-0-4-1.

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