BHUBANESWAR 25-Dec-2013 141
In-form opening batsman Natraj Behera`s historic four consecutive first class centuries went in vain as Odisha suffered a humiliating 166-run defeat in their Group-A Ranji match against hosts Gujarat at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad today.
After putting up dignified performance for the first three days, Odisha made a meek surrender on the last day as they were skittled out for a paltry 83 in the second innings, while chasing a target of 250 in the last two sessions of the match.
Electing to bat, Gujarat rode on a century each by Y Venugopal Rao (177) and captain Parthiv Patel slammed (119) to make an imposing total of 479 for nine declared. Left-arm spinner Jayant Behera was most successful Odisha bowler, taking thee wickets for 111 runs.
In reply, Odisha were all out for 367, losing their last six wickets for 54 runs. Natraj, who had scored 158 (vs Delhi), 130 and 127 not out (vs Mumbai) in his previous three innings, hit a delightful 106 (224b, 19x4) to notch up his fourth ton in a row and seventh overall in first class cricket.
After taking a 112-run first-innings lead, Gujarat declared their second innings at 137 for seven and set a challenging target for Odisha to win the match. But the visitors collapsed like a pack of cards to suffer an embarrassing defeat.
The win gave Gujarat full six points and lifted them to the second position in the group table with 26 points, while Odisha came down to seventh position with 11 points in their kitty.
Odisha made four changes in the team that drew their previous match against Mumbai. Middle-order batsman Arabinda Singh made his first-class debut, stumper Subhrajit Sahoo, all-rounder Alok Sahoo and spinner Jayanta Behera made comebacks. They replaced Niranjan Behera, Sujit Lenka, Deepak Behera and Suryakanta Pradhan.
SCOREBOARD
GUJARAT (1st innings): S Gohil c Rout b J Behera 27, P Panchal c A Singh b Samantaray 31, B Merai c B Mohanty b J Behera 45, Parthiv Patel c S Sahoo b Mohanty 109, Y Venugopal Rao c A Sahoo b Poddar 177, C Gandhi b A Sahoo 7, A Patel c & b Samantaray 11, J Karia c Mallick b J Behera 39, R Dhurv (not out) 10; Extras (b-7, lb-7, w-3, nb-6) 23
Total (8 wkts decl; 136.3 overs) 479
Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-62, 3-146, 4-287, 5-319, 6-347, 7-440, 8-479
Bowling: Basant Mohanty 34-5-93-1, Alok Sahoo 25-5-73-1, Biplab Samantaray 17-4-52-2, Jayant Behera 28-1-111-3, Dhiraj Singh 21-4-85-0, Govind Poddar 11.3-0-51-1.
Odisha (1st innings): Girija Rout lbw Bumrah 39, Natraj Behera c Gohel b Dhurv 106, Govind Poddar c & b Dhurv 43, Biplab Samantaray b Bumrah 46, Arabind Singh lbw A Patel 30, Abhilash Mallick lbw Dhurv 30, Subhrajit Sahoo c Merai b Dhurv 0, Alok Sahoo lbw Bumrah 21, Basant Mohanty c P Patel b Dhurv 5, Jayant Behera (not out) 8, Dhiraj Singh lbw Dhurv 0; Extras (b-12, lb-6, nb-6, pen-15) 39
Total (all out; 144.2 overs) 367
Fall of wicket: 1-111, 2-177, 3-246, 4-264, 5-313, 6-313, 7-344, 8-344, 9-353
Bowling: J Bumrah 36-13-80-3, I Chaudhary 25-8-67-0, A Patel 37-17-71-1, J Karia 9-1-28-0, R Dhurv 34.2-9-81-6, P Panchal 2-1-2-0, Y Venugopal Rao 1-0-5-0.
GUJARAT (2nd innings): P Patel lbw A Sahoo 18, P Panchal c S Sahoo b Mohanty 5, YV Rao (run out) 26, A Patel (not out) 54, C Gandhi lbw J Behera 0, J Kakir c D Singh b Poddar 18, B Merai (run out) 2, R Dhurv (run out) 6, S Gohel (not out) 5; Extras (b-1, lb-2) 3
Total (7 wkts decl; 22 overs) 137
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-31, 3-66, 4-66, 5-104, 6-111, 7-129
Bowling: B Mohanty 10-0-49-1, A Sahoo 3-0-23-1, J Behera 4-0-30-1, B Samantaray 2-0-13-0, G Poddar 3-0-19-1.
ODISHA (2nd innings): G Rout b A Patel 2, N Behera c Merai b Bumrah 0, G Poddar (not out) 27, B Samantaray lbw A Patel 13, A Singh b A Patel 4, A Mallick c & b Dhurv 13, A Sahoo c Panchal b Dhurv 4, S Sahoo c Gohel b A Patel 0, B Mohanty c Gohel b A Patel 0, J Behera c Gandhi b Bumrah 7, D Singh b Bumrah 4; Extras (b-5, lb-2, nb-2) 9
Total (all out; 46.5 overs) 83
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-2, 3-19, 4-23, 5-44, 6-50, 7-55, 8-55, 9-77
Bowling: A Patel 17-9-23-5, J Bumrah 10.5-1-26-3, I Chaudhari 3-1-7-0, R Dhurv 13-6-18-2, J Karia 3-2-2-0.
