BHUBANESWAR 28-Nov-2017
A fighting century by Subhranshu Senapati and a patient half-century by Rajesh Dhuper went in vain as Odisha ended their Ranji Trophy Group-C campaign with a seven-wicket defeat at the hands or Madhya Pradesh at Holkar Stadium in Indore today.
This was the second defeat in six matches for Odisha, who finished sixth among seven teams with six points in their group. On the other hand, the win over Odisha helped Madhya Pradesh qualify for the quarterfinals with 21 points from six matches.
Set with a modest target of 110 runs for victory on the fourth and last day, host Madhya Pradesh suffered a top-order failure as three wickets fell for 45 runs. But an unbeaten half-century by captain Devendra Bundela and his 66-run unfinished partnership for the fourth-wicket with Harpreet Singh Bhatia enabled them overhaul the target without the loss of any more wicket.
Earlier, resuming their second innings at the overnight score of 237 for four and needing another five runs to force the home team bat again, Odisha were all out for 350, losing their last five wickets for 58 runs. Senapati salvaged some pride with a courageous knock of 125, his third first-class century, which came off Senapati 259 balls and included 15 fours.
Among other batsmen, regular opener Natraj Behera, who batted at No 7 in the second innings, made a modest contribution of 28 runs. Mihir Hirwani was the most successful Madhya Pradesh bowler, taking five wickets for 97 runs. Madhya Pradesh allrounder Puneet Datey was adjudged the player of the match.
Put into bat, Odisha were in deep trouble losing openers Natraj Behera and Ranjit Singh with only 22 runs on the board. They never recovered from the early setbacks as wickets continued to fall in regular intervals. Only three batsmen were able to reach double figures and the team could not build a substantial partnership.
Shantanu Mishra waged a lone battle for Odisha and he became the top scorer for the side with a 100-ball 60, his second first-class half-century, which included 12 boundaries. Captain Govinda Poddar was another notable scorer, hitting 73-ball 36. Chandrakant Sakure was most successful Madhya Pradesh bowler, taking four wickets for 42 runs.
In reply, Madhya Pradesh were all out for 388 to take a sizeable lead of 241 runs. Opener Rajat Patidar scored a century, while captain Devendra Bundela and Puneet Datey hit a half-century for the home team. After reaching 244 for three, Madhya Pradesh suffered a middle-order collapse as four wickets fell in space of three runs.
However, a 100-run partnership for the eighth wicket between Patidar and Datey enabled them take the sizeable first-innings lead. Odisha captain Govinda Poddar was the most successful bowler for his side, taking a career-best haul of seven wickets for 102 runs.
Odisha made three changes in their team that drew their previous match against Baroda at Vadodara. Opening batsman Sandeep Pattanaik, vice-captain Basant Mohanty and left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh were replaced by Ranjit Singh, Deepak Behera and Subham Nayak.
SCOREBOARD
ODISHA (1st innings): Ranjit Singh b Pandey 15, Natraj Behera b Datey 2, Govinda Poddar b A Sharma 36, Subhransu Senapati c Dane b Sakure 6, Shantanu Mishra c Dane b Datey 60, Biplab Samantaray c Dane b Sakure 6, Rajesh Dhuper b Pandey 4, Deepak Behera c Bhatia b Sakure 1, Alok Sahoo lbw Datey 8, Suryakant Pradhan b Sakure 0, Subham Nayak (not out) 4; Extras (lb 3, nb-1, w-1) 5
Total (All out; 52.2 overs) 147
Fall of wickets: 1-12 (N Behera, 1.6 ov), 2-22 (R Singh, 4.3), 3-41 (Senapati, 12.5), 4-85 (Poddar, 25.2), 5-105 (Samantaray, 33.6), 6-120 (Dhuper, 38.4), 7-125 (D Behera, 41.1), 8-137 (Mishra, 46.4), 9-138 (Pradhan, 47.5), 10-147 (Sahoo, 52.2)
Bowling: Ishwar Pandey 13-5-33-2, Puneet Datey 13.2-4-34-3, Ankit Sharma 6-0-25-1, Chandrakant Sakure 14.3-2-42-4, Mihir Hirwani 5.3-2-10-0.
MADHYA PRADESH (1st innings): Rajat Patidar c Dhuper b Poddar 123, Aryaman Birla lbw Poddar 16, Devendra Bundela c Sahoo b Poddar 62, Shubham Sharma lbw Poddar 5, Harpreet Bhatia c Sahoo b Poddar 36, Ankit Dane lbw Behera 2, Ankit Sharma c Dhuper b Behera 0, Puneet Datey b Poddar 56, Mihir Hirwani (run out) Samantaray 49, Ishwar Pandey c D Singh (Sub) b Poddar 28, Chandrakant Sakure (not out) 1; Extras (b-5, lb-4, nb-1) 10
Total (All out; 115 overs) 388
Fall of wicket: 1-72 (Birla, 24.6 ov), 2-186 (Bundela, 54.6), 3-193 (S Sharma, 56.6), 4-244 (H Bhatia, 75.3), 5-247 (Dane, 76.1), 6-247 (A Sharma, 76.4), 7-247 (Patidar, 77.4), 8-357 (Datey, 110.1), 9-361 (Hirwani, 111.4), 10-388 (Pandey, 114.6)
Bowling: Suryakant Pradhan 22-2-67-0, Deepak Behera 24-7-42-2, Alok Sahoo 16-2-55-0, Subham Nayak 15-3-70-0, Govinda Poddar 27-3-102-7, Biplab Samantaray 11-1-43-0.
ODISHA (2nd innings): R Dhuper c Bundela b Date 88, R Singh c Patidar b Hirwani 30, G Poddar lbw Hirwani 30, S Senapati c Bundela b A Sharma 125, B Samantaray c Dane b Pandey 1, S Mishra b Date 10, N Behera c Bundela b Hirwani 28, D Behera lbw Hirwani 15, A Sahoo lbw Hirwani 3, S Pradhan b A Sharma 16, S Nayak (not out) 0; Extras (b-7, lb-2, w-3, nb-2) 14
Total (All out; 138.2 overs) 350
Fall of wickets: 1-70 (R Singh, 31.5 ov), 2-92 (Poddar, 41.5), 3-212 (Dhuper, 88.3), 4-213 (Samantaray, 89.5), 5-237 (Mishra, 100.1), 6-292 (N Behera, 121.5), 7-325 (Senapati, 130.1), 8-333 (D Behera, 133.4), 9-342 (Sahoo, 135.3), 10-350 (Pradhan, 138.2)
Bowling: I Pandey 24-10-41-1, P Datey 21-2-48-2, M Hirwani 37-7-97-5, A Sharma 28.2-11-59-2, C Sakure 18-0-66-0, S Sharma 8-0-26-0, A Birla 2-0-4-0.
MADHYA PRADESH (2nd innings): R Patidar b D Behera 8, A Birla (run out) Nayak 6, D Bundela (not out) 50, S Sharma b D Behera 10, HS Bhatia (not out) 37
Total (3 wkts; 37 overs) 111
Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Patidar, 0.5 ov), 2-30 (Birla, 12.2), 3-45 (S Sharma, 15.4)
Bowling: D Behra 11-1-31-2, A Sashoo 3-0-10-0, G Poddar 16-3-54-0, B Samantaray 5-1-11-0, N Behera 1-0-4-0, S Mishra 1-0-1-0.
