Ranji Trophy: Orissa hold Bengal, maintain unbeaten run

A steadily improving Orissa team maintained their unbeaten in Ranji Trophy by holding formidable Bengal to a draw on the last day of their three-day East Zone match at Eden Gardens in Calcutta today. This was the fourth successive time that Orissa split points with their opponents.

However, Orissa again settled with three points for conceding first-innings lead, while Bengal pocketed five points. Century each by opener Pranab Roy and Barun Barman helped Bengal declare their first innings at 407 for nine after captain Udaybhanu Banerjee won the toss and elected to bat.

Among successful Orissa bowlers, Asjit Jayaprakasham and Sabir Hussain claimed four and three wickets respectively. In reply, Orissa were bowled out for 192 and conceded a lead of 215 runs. The highlight of the Orissa first-innings was a belligerent knock of 76 by Anil Bhardwaj.

Forced to follow on, Orissa were 182 for six in the second innings when the match ended in draw. Picking up his impressive batting from where he had left, Bhardwaj hit another half-century, while Karun Dubey became the top scorer with an unbeaten 82.

SCORECARD (Orissa Match No 78):

BENGAL (1st innings):
Pranab Roy b Hussain 140, A Paul c Nag b Praharaj 20, R Venkatraman b Sahoo 5, S Mukherjee b Jaiprakasham 42, *U Banerjee c Paramjit Singh b Jaiprakasham 23, S Bhattacharjee b Jaiprakasham 1, +Sambaran Banerjee c & b Jaiprakasham 50, Barun Burman not out 100, A Bhattacharjee c Patnaik b Hussain 4, A Bhattacharya b Hussain 10; SK Porel not out 2; Extras 10
Total (9 wickets, declared, 142.2 overs) 407
Fall of wickets:
1-40, 2-45, 3-115, 4-200, 5-208, 6-260, 7-365, 8-370, 9-395
Orissa bowling: Sahoo 14-2-67-1, Praharaj 18-5-39-1, Paramjit Singh 46-18-77-0, Patnaik 8-1-34-0, Jaiprakasham 41-3-137-4, Hussain 14.2-2-40-3, Dubey 1-0-3-0.

ORISSA (1st innings): Karun Dubey b Burman 5, Harmohan B Praharaj c Burman b Porel 21, Asjit Jaiprakasham b Porel 5, Anil Bhardwaj run out 76, Rabi Narayan Panda b Bhattacharya 24, Ramesh Chandok lbw A Bhattacharjee 2, +Gautam Nag c & b Bhattacharya 9, Goutam Patnaik c U Banerjee b Bhattacharya 16, Somnath Sahoo st S Banerjee b Bhattacharya 16, *Paramjit Singh c Paul b S Bhattacharjee 5, S Hussain not out 0; Extras 13
Total (all out, 74.2 overs) 192
Fall of wickets:
1-26, 2-35, 3-42, 4-117, 5-120, 6-131, 7-170, 8-171, 9-192, 10-192
Bengal bowling: Burman 14-3-49-1, Porel 13-5-33-2, S Bhattacharjee 17-5-43-1, A Bhattacharjee 11-2-31-1, Bhattacharya 19.2-10-23-4.

ORISSA (2nd innings, following on): K Dubey not out 82, HB Praharaj c Porel b Burman 7, A Jaiprakasham c S Banerjee b Burman 5, A Bhardwaj b U Banerjee 68, RN Panda c S Banerjee b Bhattacharya 0, G Patnaik run out 0, R Chandok c S Banerjee b S Bhattacharjee 0, +G Nag not out 2, S Hussain DNB, *Paramjit Singh DNB, S Sahoo DNB; Extras 18
Total (6 wickets, 76 overs) 182
Fall of wickets:
1-29, 2-44, 3-158, 4-163, 5-166, 6-167
Bengal bowling: Burman 6-1-29-2, Porel 6-2-15-0, S Bhattacharjee 14-3-28-1, A Bhattacharjee 18-9-34-0, Bhattacharya 27-11-33-1, U Banerjee 5-0-25-1.

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