Ranji Trophy: Sahoo, Panda shine in drawn match

Fine allround performance by Somnath Sahoo and a half-century by Rabi Narayan Panda enabled Orissa draw their three-day Ranji Trophy East Zone match against mighty Bengal on the last day at Baripada Stadium in Baripada today. However, Bengal bagged five points by virtue of taking first-innings lead, while host Orissa settled with three points. With this match, Orissa extended their unbeaten run to seven.

Half-century each by Arun Lal and captain Sambaran Banerjee helped Bengal compile healthy total of 303 after they opted to bat, winning the toss. Among successful Orissa bowlers, Somnath Sahoo and Harmohan Praharaj captured four and three wickets respectively.

In reply, Orissa made 253, thanks to a half-century by Rabi Narayan Panda and useful contributions by Somnath Sahoo, debutants BKR Patnaik, Chiranjib Biswal, captain Paramjit Singh and medium-pacer Sabir Hussain. Paramjit and Hussain stitched together 56 runs for the last-wicket stand.

Armed with a first-innings lead of 50 runs, Bengal declared their second innings at 194 for four to set a victory target of 245 runs before the home team. Orissa were 78 for three when both the captains agreed end the match as draw.

SCORECARD (Orissa Match No 80):

BENGAL (1st innings): P Roy b Praharaj 0, Farsatullah b Sahoo 6, J Arun Lal c & b Paramjit Singh 82, S Mukherjee c Nag b Sahoo 8, R Venkatraman b Jaiprakasham 40, P Nandy c Praharaj b Hussain 23, *+S Banerjee c Nag b Praharaj 76, A Bhattacharya lbw Sahoo 26, S Shome b Sahoo 3, M Ghosh b Praharaj 10, SK Porel not out 0; Extras 29
Total (all out, 92.1 overs) 303
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-26, 3-54, 4-132, 5-148, 6-202, 7-282, 8-?, 9-302, 10-303
Orissa bowling: Praharaj 21.1-3-47-3, Sahoo 17-1-50-4, Paramjit Singh 25-4-67-1, Hussain 9-0-43-1, Jaiprakasham 20-3-67-1.

ORISSA (1st innings): BKR Patnaik c Arun Lal b Ghosh     26, Harmohan B Praharaj c Banerjee b Ghosh 6, Asjit Jaiprakasham b Ghosh 7, Anil Bhardwaj c Banerjee b Ghosh 5, Rabi Narayan Panda lbw Bhattacharya 57, Chiranjib Biswal c Venkatraman b Shome 24, Somnath Sahoo c Porel b Shome 37, +Gautam Nag c Roy b Bhattacharya 2, Daniel Rout c & b Bhattacharya 9, *Paramjit Singh c & b Farsatullah 29, S Hussain not out 25; Extras 26
Total (all out, 94.2 overs) 253
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-37, 3-58, 4-64, 5-126, 6-173, 7-177, 8-187, 9-197, 10-253
Bengal bowling: Ghosh 20-4-53-4, Porel 13-3-20-0, Bhattacharya 25-8-49-3, Shome 25-7-72-2, Farsatullah 9.2-0-23-1, Nandy 2-0-10-0.

BENGAL (2nd innings): P Roy lbw Sahoo 33, Farsatullah lbw Jaiprakasham 70, J Arun Lal c Patnaik b Sahoo 4, S Mukherjee c sub (D Augustus) b Hussain 38, R Venkatraman not out 29, P Nandy not out 5; Extras 15
Total (4 wickets, declared, 68 overs) 194
Fall of wickets: 1-61, 2-75, 3-146, 4-174
Orissa bowling: Praharaj 13-2-36-0, Sahoo 13-1-48-2, Paramjit Singh 14-2-36-0, Hussain 10-2-14-1, Jaiprakasham 17-2-42-1, Bhardwaj 1-0-3-0.

ORISSA (2nd innings): BKR Patnaik lbw Ghosh 1, HB Praharaj c & b Farsatullah 23, A Jaiprakasham c Banerjee b Porel 16, A Bhardwaj not out 13, RN Panda not out 3, S Hussain DNB, *Paramjit Singh DNB, D Rout DNB, +G Nag DNB, S Sahoo DNB, C Biswal DNB; Extras 22
Total (3 wickets, 28 overs) 78
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-26, 3-64
Bengal bowling: Ghosh 8-4-9-1, Porel 10-5-32-1, Shome 3-2-10-0, Farsatullah 6-2-5-1, Roy 1-1-0-0.