Ranji Trophy: Orissa force Bengal follow on 1st time

Forced to follow on after conceding first-innings lead, Bengal fought back to escape defeat against host Orissa in their three-day Ranji Trophy East Zone match, which ended in a draw on the last day at Baripada Stadium in Baripada today.

However, Orissa pocketed 14 points for taking first-innings lead, while Orissa settled with 12 points. Orissa also created history by making Bengal follow on for the first time in a First-Class match. Century by captain Asjit Jayaprakasham and half-century by Sritam Das enabled Orissa compile a healthy total of 378 after they elected to bat.

Reduced to 43 for three, Orissa made impressive recovery, thanks to a 101-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Das and Jayaprakasham. Das slammed 54, while Jayaprakasham hit 121 (212b, 15x4, 1x6), which was his fifth First-Class century. Amiya Ray, Harmohan Praharaj and Abinasha Khatua also made notable contributions for Orissa.

In reply, Bengal were bowled out for 211 and condeded a first-innings lead of 167 runs. Sourajit Mohapatra destroyed the Bengal innings, bagging seven wickets for 74 runs. With this superb haul, he reached 50 wickets in First-Class cricket.

However, Bengal denied Orissa what would have been their first win by putting up strong batting performance in the second innings and declaring at 303 for five. The hard-fought match eventually ended in draw as Orissa could make 21 for two while chasing a victory target of 137 in the second innings.

SCORECARD (Orissa Match No 114):

ORISSA (1st innings): Biswajit Mohanty c Banerjee b Seth 16, Sushil Kumar Prasad c Kalyani b Sensharma 16, Devashish Mahanti c Banerjee b Sensharma 2, Sritam Das lbw Chatterjee 54, Amiya Ray b Chatterjee 47, *Asjit Jaiprakasham c Seth b Chatterjee 121, Abinasha Khatua c Roy b Seth 32, Subhashish Bhuyan c Venkatraman b Sensharma 8, Harmohan Praharaj c Roy b Chatterjee 46, +Pannalal Bose run out 1, Sourajit Mohapatra not out 0; Extras (b-9, lb-4, nb-12, w-2) 27, Penalties 8
Total (all out, 125.1 overs) 378
Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Kumar Prasad), 2-24 (Mahanti), 3-43 (Mohanty), 4-144, 5-153, 6-242, 7-271, 8-361, 9-370, 10-370
Bengal bowling: Sensharma 26-7-44-3, Seth 33-5-117-2, Bhattacharya 28.1-3-84-0, Chatterjee 32-8-90-4, Ganguly 1-0-8-0, Rajinder Singh 1-1-0-0, Arun Lal 4-0-14-0.

BENGAL (1st innings): IB Roy c Ray b Mohapatra 5, J Arun Lal lbw Mohapatra 34, R Venkatraman c Bose b Mohapatra 46, Snehasish Ganguly c Bose b Mohapatra 31, SJ Kalyani b Kumar Prasad 18, US Chatterjee run out 10, Rajinder Singh b Kumar Prasad 0, *+S Banerjee c Jaiprakasham b Mohapatra 14, A Bhattacharya c Bose b Mohapatra 14, S Sensharma c Ray b Mohapatra 13, R Seth not out 0; Extras (b-1, lb-5, nb-7, w-1) 14, Penalties 12
Total (all out, 70.4 overs) 211
Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-44, 3-121, 4-130, 5-151, 6-151, 7-172, 8-174, 9-196, 10-199
Orissa bowling: Praharaj 13-4-35-0, Mohapatra 29.4-7-74-7, Kumar Prasad 23-3-66-2, Ray 5-0-18-0.

BENGAL (2nd innings, Following on): IB Roy c Jaiprakasham b Mohapatra 74, J Arun Lal lbw Mohapatra 28, R Venkatraman run out 45, US Chatterjee     st Bose b Kumar Prasad 39, A Bhattacharya st Bose b Kumar Prasad 20, Rajinder Singh not out 38, SJ Kalyani not out 42; Extras (b-6, lb-7, nb-2, w-2) 17
Total (5 wickets, declared, 52 overs) 303
Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-108, 3-192, 4-210, 5-223
Orissa bowling: Praharaj 3-0-28-0, Mohapatra 15-0-95-2, Kumar Prasad 18-0-72-2, Ray 10-0-62-0, Jaiprakasham 5-0-29-0, Das 1-0-4-0.

ORISSA (2nd innings): S Kumar Prasad b Sensharma 0, S Bhuyan b Seth 2, *A Jaiprakasham not out 4, S Das not out 8; Extras (b-1, nb-2) 3, Penalties 4
Total (2 wickets, 10 overs) 21
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-5
Bengal bowling: Sensharma 5-3-4-1, Seth 5-2-12-1.
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PHOTO: File photo of Orissa pace bowler Sourajit Mohapatra.