CUTTACK 22-Dec-1991
Courageous batting by Manojit Bhatt helped Orissa escape defeat against Bengal in their four-day Ranji Trophy East Zone match, which ended in a draw on the last day at Baripada Stadium in Baripada today. Bengal had the opportunity to go for an outright win by making Orissa follow on, but chose otherwise.
After taking a first-innings lead of 289 runs, Bengal played safe as they chose to bat for the second time and settled with the draw eventually. The plan worked well for Bengal as they garnered 19 points from the match, while Orissa contended with seven points.
Put into bat by new Orissa captain Ranjib Biswal, Bengal rode on a century each by Satyen Bhattacharjee, captain Arun Lal and Ashok Malhotra to declare at 514 for four. In reply, Orissa were bowled out for 225 to concede a huge first-innings lead.
In the second innings, Bengal declared at 259 for three with Malhotra hitting his second century of the match and Arun Lal missing identical feat by one run. Chasing a gigantic target of 549 for victory, Orissa were going strong at 187 for four in the second innings when the match ended as draw. Bhatt was most impressive performer for Orissa in this match, hitting a half-century in the second innings as well.
SCORECARD (Orissa Match No 123):
BENGAL (1st innings): S Bhattacharjee c Khatua b Rajesh Singh 4, *J Arun Lal c PR Mohapatra b Biswal 130, SJ Kalyani c Khatua b Biswal 52, Snehasish Ganguly retired hurt 3, Ashok Malhotra run out 151, R Venkatraman not out 140, D Mukherjee DNB, +M Das DNB, SP Mukherjee DNB, S Sensharma DNB, US Chatterjee DNB; Extras (b-1, lb-5, nb-10, w-2) 18, Penalties 16
Total (4 wickets, declared, 124.5 overs) 514
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-160, 3-211, 4-498
Orissa bowling: S Mohapatra 15-0-73-0, Rajesh Singh 21-4-67-1, Praharaj 13-1-84-0, Kumar Prasad 35-7-125-0, Biswal 19-2-76-2, Khatua 21.5-2-67-0.
ORISSA (1st innings): +Prasanta Mohapatra lbw Sensharma 10, Soumitra Chowdhury c Venkatraman b Chatterjee 16, Manojit Bhatt run out 69, *Ranjib Biswal c Malhotra b Chatterjee 13, Debdutta Lenka lbw Sensharma 37, Rajesh Singh c sub (DJ Gandhi) b Chatterjee 2, Abakash Khatua c sub (DJ Gandhi) b Sensharma 15, Harmohan Praharaj not out 24, Bishnu Deb Mohanty c Das b Chatterjee 0, Sushil Kumar Prasad b Sensharma 24, Sourajit Mohapatra b Sensharma 0; Extras (b-1, lb-5, nb-9) 15
Total (all out, 81.3 overs) 225
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-32, 3-59, 4-142, 5-152, 6-158, 7-170, 8-180, 9-225, 10-225
Bengal bowling: Sensharma 22.3-8-65-5, D Mukherjee 19-3-66-0, Chatterjee 28-7-69-4, SP Mukherjee 12-6-19-0.
BENGAL (2nd innings): S Bhattacharjee c Biswal b S Mohapatra 5, *J Arun Lal c Kumar Prasad b S Mohapatra 99, SJ Kalyani c & b S Mohapatra 10, AO Malhotra not out 101, R Venkatraman not out 34; Extras (lb-2, nb-8) 10
Total (3 wickets, declared, 57.4 overs) 259
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-45, 3-199
Orissa bowling: S Mohapatra 15-0-76-3, Rajesh Singh 7-0-32-0, Kumar Prasad 19.4-2-79-0, Biswal 11-1-44-0, Khatua 5-0-26-0.
ORISSA (2nd innings): +PR Mohapatra lbw Chatterjee 44, S Chowdhury c Das b Sensharma 7, MP Bhatt b Arun Lal 86, *R Biswal c Das b Chatterjee 4, D Lenka not out 43, Rajesh Singh not out 1; Extras (lb-1, nb-1) 2
Total (4 wickets, 59 overs) 187
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-88, 3-98, 4-170
Bengal bowling: Sensharma 10-1-26-1, D Mukherjee 11-3-34-0, Chatterjee 19-4-71-2, SP Mukherjee 7-1-18-0, Arun Lal 11-0-29-1, Venkatraman 1-0-8-0.
