CUTTACK 31-Dec-2012 175
Career best bowling performance of 10 wickets for 74 runs by medium-pacer Imtiaz Ahmed guided Uttar Pradesh to a 43-run win over hosts Odisha on the third and penultimate day of their eighth and last-round Group-B Ranji match at Barabati Stadium here today. Ahmed bagged five wickets in each innings, conceding 45 and 29 runs respectively.
This was UP’s fourth win and fetched them six points, while Odisha drew blank. Table-toppers UP, who have already qualified for the quarterfinals, completed their league engagements with 33 points. Despite the defeat, which was their fourth, Odisha retained their place in Group-B, finishing with 16 points.
Odisha, in fact, had good opportunity to win the low-scoring match against UP and brighten their chance to qualify for the knock-out round. But poor batting performance _ match total of 228 runs _ dashed their hopes.
Resuming their second innings at the overnight score of 53 for four and needing another 92 runs for victory, the hosts were bowled out for 101, losing their last six wickets in addition of another 48 runs. Among the Odisha batsmen, only Govind Poddar put up some resistance with a 60-ball 36.
But Odisha pace bowlers lived upto their growing reputation as a formidable force, bagging 19 of the 20 wickets against UP. Deepak Behera was most successful among the four pace bowlers with match figures of nine wickets for 64 runs, which included a career-best haul of six for 37 in the first innings.
Overall, Odisha’s performance in the league phase of the Ranji Trophy championship turned out to be their best in four years. The Natraj Behera-led team posted their first win in four years, trouncing Haryana by four wickets in an away match at Lahli. In the next match, also an away game, they upset Karnataka by 65 runs at Bangalore. The back-to-back wins catapulted Odisha to the top of the group table. However, defeats in the last three matches against Baroda, Vidarbha and UP spoiled their hopses for a berth in the quarterfinals.
SCOREBOARD
UTTAR PRADESH (1st innings): T Srivastav c H Das b Samantaray 16, M Dagar c h Das b D Behera 29, M Kaif b Samantaray 3, U Sharma b D Behera 0, P Gupta c H Das b B Mohanty 5, A Nath c Mohanty b D Behera 37, A Murtaza c & b D Behera 24, E Dwivedi b D Behera 2, I Ahmad c & b D Behera 1, A Rajpoot b B Mohanty 5, S Tyagi (not out) 4; Extras (b-9, lb-10, w-8, nb-7) 34
Total (10 wkts; overs) 160
Fall of wickets: 1-59, 2-59, 3-59, 4-65, 5-72, 6-110, 7-117, 8-125, 9-145
Bowling: Basant Mohanty 18.1-7-28-2, Alok Mangaraj 13-3-46-0, Deepak Behera 17.5-6-37-6, Biplab Samantaray 12-5-30-2
ODISHA (1st innings): Sandeep Mulia c Dwivedi b Rajpoot 8, Natraj Behera c Kaif b Ahmad 6, Niranjan Behera lbw Tyagi 17, Govind Poddar c Kaif b Ahmad 8, Abhilash Mallick (run out) 7, Haladhar Das c Gupta b Ahmed 19, Biplab Samantaray c Dwivedi b Rajpoot 8, Deepak Bahera c Kaif b Ahmed 17, Lagnajit Samal c Dwivedi b Ahmed 12, Basant Mohanty (not out) 13, Alok Mangaraj b Murtaza 1; Extras (b-5, lb-3, nb-3) 11
Total (10 wkts; 42.5 overs) 127
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-12, 3-36, 4-45, 5-49, 6-78, 7-82, 8-109, 9-124
Bowling: A Rajpoot 11-3-33-2, I Ahmad 21-6-45-5, S Tyagi 10-2-40-1, A Murtaza 0.5-0-1-1
UTTAR PRADESH (2nd innings): T Srivastav b Mangaraj 7, M Dagar b Mohanty 4, M Kaif c Mulia b D Behera 23, U Sharma lbw D Behera 37, P Gupta c Das b Mohanty 0, A Nath b D Behera 0, A Murtaza c Mulia b Samantaray 25, E Dwivedi (run out) 3, I Ahmed c Das b Mohanty 5, A Rajpoot lbw Mohanty 0, S Tyagi (not out) 0; Extras (b-5, lb-1, nb-1) 7
Total (10 wkts; 40.1 overs) 111
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-21, 3-40, 4-53, 5-54, 6-86, 7-94, 8-101, 9-101
Bowling: Basant Mohanty 15-4-31-4, Alok Mangaraj 11-3-30-1, Deepak Behera 9.1-1-27-3, Biplab Samantaray 5-0-17-1
ODISHA (2nd innings): S Mulia c Gupta b Ahmed 2, Abhilash Mallick b Ahmed 5, Niranjan Behera lbw Ahmed 15, G Poddar c Rajpoot b Ahmed 36, B Samantaray lbw Murtaza 2, D Behera c Gupta b Rajpoot 7, Natraj Behera c Dwivedi b Rajpoot 9, H Das b Ahmed 5, L Samal c Sharma b Murtaza 13, B Mohanty c Tyati b Rajpoot 0, A Mangaraj (not out 0; Extras (b-4, lb-1, w-2) 7
Total (10 wkts; 37.2 overs ) 101
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-12, 3-25, 4-40, 5-72, 6-74, 7-87, 8-89, 9-89
Bowling: A Rajpoot 14-3-42-3, I Ahmed 16-5-29-5, S Tyagi 4-0-21-0, A Murtaza 3.2-0-4-2
