BHUBANESWAR 17-Dec-2013 131
Odisha fought back after being made to follow on to hold group leaders Mumbai to a draw on the fourth and last day of their Group-A Ranji Trophy match at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai today.
Natraj Behera led the Odisha fight-back with elan, hitting defiant century in both the innings. Electing to bat, hosts Mumbai rode on a century each by captain Wassim Jaffer (143) and Hiken Shah (170) to declare their first innings at 501 for 9. Odisha pace spearhead Basant Mohanty and left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh bagged three wickets each.
In reply, Odisha were all out for 256 after being reduced to 36 for three. Forced to follow-on, conceding a lead of 245 runs, Odisha put up much improved batting performance to reach 356 for five in the second innings when both the captains agreed for the draw.
Natraj stole the show in the match, hitting 130 (184 balls, 24x4, 2x6) in the first innings and an unbeaten 127 (218 balls, 17x4, 3x6) in the second. This was the sixth first-class century and third successive in Ranji Trophy for Natraj, who had slammed 158 in the previous match against Delhi.
Mumbai, however, secured three points from the match by virtue of taking first innings lead, while Odisha gained one point. But Mumbai slipped from the top of the table to second place with 23 points from six matches, while Odisha regained their sixth place with 11 points from six games.
Odisha wicket-keeper Sujit Lenka, who replaced Subhrajit Sahoo, and Mumbai leg-spinner Pravin Tambe made their first-class debut in the match.
SCOREBOARD
MUMBAI (1st innings): S Marathe b Mohanty 27, A Tare c Lenka b Mohanty 16, W Jaffer c Mohanty b Behera 143, Hiken Shah lbw D Singh 170, S Yadav st Lenka b D Singh 28, S Lad c Mallick b Mohanty 39, P Tambe c Lenka b D Singh 18, S Thakur (run out) 8, J Khan c D Singh b Pradhan 36, K Waingankar (not out) 4, V Dabholkar (not out) 1; Extras (b-1, lb-4, w-2) 7
Total (9 wkts decl; 157 overs) 501
Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-70, 3-292, 4-391, 5-396, 6-422, 7-441, 8-480, 9-496
Bowling: Basanat Mohanty 45-14-73-3, Suryakant Pradhan 35-5-138-1, Deepak Behera 28-5-77-1, Biplab Samantaray 23-3-78-0, Dhiraj Singh 25-1-117-3, Govind Poddar 1-0-13-0.
ODISHA (1st innings): Girija Rout c Yadav b J Khan 4, Natraj Behera c Tare b Khan 130, Niranjan Behera c Tare b Khan 0, Govind Poddar c Tare b Thakur 2, Biplab Samantaray c J Khan b Thakur 39, Abhilash Mallick c Thakur b Waingankar 33, Sujit Lenka c Marathe b Thakur 0, Deepak Behera b Dabholkar 3, Basant Mohanty c Marathe b Dabholkar 29, Suryakant Pradhan c Marathe b J Khan 4, Dhiraj Singh (not out) 0; Extras (b-2) 2
Total (all out; 63.5 overs) 256
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-16, 3-36, 4-95, 5-147, 6-147, 7-150, 8-227, 9-243
Bowling: J Khan 14-2-53-4, S Thakur 14-4-54-3, K Waingankar 9-1-34-1, V Dabholkar 18.5-8-66-2, P Tambe 8-1-42-0.
ODISHA (2nd innings): G Poddar c Tare b Tambe 42, G Rout st Tare b Tambe 43, Niranjan Behera c Tambe b Khan 59, Natraj Behera (not out) 127, B Samantaray st Tare b Dabholkar 27, Abhilash Mallick c Dabholkar b Lad 40, Sujit Lenka (not out) 0; Extras (b-4, lb-7, nb-7) 18
Total (5 wkts; 122 overs) 356
Fall of wickets: 1-83, 2-90, 3-236, 4-300, 5-352
Bowling: J Khan 15-3-40-1, S Thakur 15-4-46-0, K Waingankar 11-3-28-0, P Tambe 33-8-127-2, V Dabholkar 35-13-70-1, S Yadav 4-0-9-0, S Lad 9-2-25-1.
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PHOTO: Natraj Behera celebrates his successive centuries in Ranji match against Mumbai in Mumbai on Dec 17, 2013.
