Odisha suffer innings defeat in opening Ranji match

Odisha started their Ranji Trophy campaign with an innings and 48-run defeat at the hands of Punjab on the fourth and last day of a Group-A league match at PCA Stadium, Mohali (Chandigarh) today. Punjab secured seven points from the huge win, while Odisha drew blank.

Needing 356 runs to avoid innings defeat, Odisha batted well in the second innings but only to be dismissed for 307. Three batsmen _ Abhilash Mallick, Govind Poddar and Niranjan Behera _ hit a half-century each in the second essay.

Batting and bowling failure in the first innings resulted in Odisha suffering the big defeat. Put into bat, Odisha made a modest 204 with Govind Poddar (42), Girija Rout (38), Abhilash Mallick (32 not out), Biplab Samantaray (30) and Natraj Behera (22) being the leading scorers. Punjab captain Harbhajan Singh ran through the Odisha innings, bagging six wickets for 54 runs.

In reply, Punjab rode a big hundred each by Mandeep Singh (175) and Taruwar Kohli (144) to muster a mammoth total before declaring at 560 for six. The duo compiled 282 runs for the third-wicket partnership to put Punjab in a commanding position.

SCOREBOARD
ODISHA (1st innings): Girija Rout c Chouhan b Harbhajan 38, Natraj Behera c U Kaul b S Kaul 22, Niranjan Behera (run out) 7, Govind Poddar c R Singh b Harbhajan 42, Biplab Samantaray c U Kaul b Harbhajan 30, Abhilash Mallick (not out) 32, Haladhar Das b Harbhajan 0, Deepak Behera b S Sharma 8, Alok Mangaraj b Harbhajan 4, Dhiraj Singh b Harbhajan 0; Extras (b-9, lb-3, nb-8, w-1) 21
Total (All out; 83.2 overs) 204
Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-66, 3-80, 4-139, 5-177, 6-177, 7-197, 8-197, 9-202
Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 17-1-49-2, S Kaul 16-5-37-1, Manpreet Gony 16-3-38-0, Harbhajan Singh 28.2-12-54-6, Amitoze Singh 6-3-14-0.
PUNJAB  (1st innings): Jiwanjot Singh c Natraj Behera b D Behera 18, R Inder Singh b D Singh 50, Taruwar Kohli c Mangaraj b D Behera 144, Mandeep Singh b Mangaraj 175, Uday Kaul lbw Dhiraj Singh 2, Mayank Sidhana c Samantaray b Poddar 48, Amitoze Singh (not out) 56, Harbhajan Singh (not out) 49; Extras (b-6, lb-2, nb-10) 18
Total (6 wkts decl; 150 overs) 560
Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-86, 3-368, 4-379, 5-419, 6-483
Bowling: Basant Mohanty 38-6-106-0, Deepak Behera 27-5-108-2, Govind Poddar 12-0-61-1, Alok Mangaraj 22-2-92-1, Biplab Samantaray 7-0-35-0, Dhiraj Singh 40-10-125-2, Nirajan Behera 3-0-14-0, Girija Rout 1-0-11-0.
ODISHA (2nd innings): G Rout lbw S Sharma 5, Natraj Behera c Inder Singh b S Sharma 8, Niranjan Behera b S Kaul 56, G Poddar c U Kaul b Gony 70, Biplab Samantaray lbw S Kaul 8, Abhilash Mallick c U Kaul b Gony 73, Haladhar Das c S Kaul b Harbhajan 16, Deepak Behera c J Chouhan b Harbhajan 8, Basant Mohanty c&b Harbhajan 41, Alok Mangaraj b S Sharma 4, Dhiraj Singh (not out) 4; Extras (b-1, lb-5, nb-8) 14
Total (all out; 91.4 overs) 307
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-13, 3-143, 4-147, 5-162, 6-209, 7-233, 8-272, 9-291
Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 21-2-64-3, S Kaul 19-3-57-2, Harbhajan Singh 25.4-3-83-3, M Gony 20-2-73-2, R I Singh 6-0-24-0.