BHUBANESWAR 28-Jul-2015
A majestic knock of 187 by young opening batsman Ravikumar Samarth put hosts KSCA XI in a commanding position against Odisha in their four-day Group A match of the Dr Capt K Thimmappiah Memorial Cricket Tournament at RSI ground in Bangalore today.
In reply to Odisha`s modest first innings total of 195, KSCA XI reached 335 for five at stump on the second day after resuming at the overnight score of 66 for no loss. They now lead by 140 runs with five wickets in hand.
Samarth, who hit 18 boundaries and one six in his 366-ball knock, gave the home team a solid start, stitching together 96 runs for the opening with Mayank Agarwal, who was run out for 44. Odisha made a fight-back of sorts by reducing the opposition to 129 for three.
But 21-year-old Samarth restored his team`s authority by adding 153 runs for the fourth wicket with Shishir Bhavane, who slammed a 132-ball 69 with the help of 12 hits to the fence. Mysore born Samarth, however, missed out on a double century by 13 runs as he was trapped in front of the wicket by Odisha skipper Biplab Samantray.
The bowling attack of Odisha appeared pedestrian, lacking penetration and bite. Especially the pacers, who bagged 18 wickets to guide Odisha to a six-wicket win over Assam in the previous match, failed to dismiss any of the opposition batsmen in the day. Among the nine bowlers used by Odisha skipper Samantray, left-arm spinner Jayant Behera was most successful, picking up two wickets for 62 runs.
Electing to bat, Odisha made a decent start with openers Girija Rout and Rajesh Dhuper putting on 56 runs for the first wicket. But thereafter, the visitors lost wickets in regular intervals and were all out in 66.2 overs. Anurag Sarangi hit a 115-ball 55, which included seven fours and two sixes, to give Odisha`s total some respectability.
Odisha made one change in the side that beat Assam by six wickets in their opening match, replacing experienced swing bowler Basant Mohanty with allrounder Paresh Patel.
SCOREBOARD
ODISHA (1st innings): Girija Rout c Bhavane b Deshpande 22, Rajesh Dhuper c Arvind b Suchith 30, Govind Poddar c Agarwal b Deshpande 2, Anurag Sarangi (run out) 55, Biplab Samantray c Nidhish b Suchith 5, Abhilash Mallick ct Sharath b Samarth 12, Prateek Das c Arvind b Samarth 5, Paresh Patel c Agarwal b Suchith 17, Alok Sahoo c Nidhish b Suchith 25, Suryakant Pradhan b Deshpande 10, Jayant Behera (not out) 0; Extras (lb-4, nb-6, w-2) 12
Total (all out; 66.2 overs) 195
Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-61, 3-66, 4-79, 5-114, 6-120, 7-160, 8-160, 9-183, 10-195
Bowling: S Arvind 5-0-20-0, H S Sharath 9-2-19-0, Ronit More 6-3-11-0, J Suchith 20.2-4-71-4, Pavan Deshpande 16-5-35-3, R Samarth 8-2-23-2, Abhishek Reddy 2-1-12-0
KSCA XI (1st innings): R Samrath lbw Samantray 187, Mayank Agarwal (run out) 44, Abhishek Reddy b Patel 7, C Gautam c Pradhan b Behera 3, Shishir Bhavane c Sahoo b Behera 69, Pavan Deshpande (batting) 18, M Nidhish (batting) 2; Extras (b-4, nb-1) 5
Total (5 wktw; 119 overs) 335
Fall of wickets: 1-96, 2-119, 3-129, 4-282, 5-324
Bowling: Suryakant Pradhan 20-6-49-0, Alok Chandra Sahoo 16-5-57-0, Jayant Behera 37-11-62-2, Paresh Patel 15.2-3-45-1, Govind Poddar 15.4-1-63-0, Prateek Das 5-0-20-0, Biplab Samantray 5-1-12-1, Anurag Sarangi 4-0-21-0, Abhilash Mallick 1-0-2-0.
