Ranji Trophy: Ray rescues Orissa against Assam

Half-century in both the innings by Amiya Ray helped Orissa draw their four-day Ranji Trophy East Zone match on the last day at Nehru Stadium in Guwahati today. Enjoying upperhand in this match, host Assam garnered 14 points, while Orissa settled with six points.

Put into bat, Orissa were in deep trouble, losing four wickets for 21 runs. They managed to muster a modest total of 176, thanks to a responsible knock of 67 by Amiya Ray and useful contributions by Abakash Khatua and Rajesh Singh.

In reply, a reinforced Assam with former India Test players Lalchand Rajpur and Chandrakant Pandit in their team, declared at 358 for eight to take a first-innings lead of 182 runs. Living upto their reputation, Rajpur scored a century, while Pandit contributed a fifty. Sushil Kumar Prasad was most successful Orissa bowler, grabbing five wickets for 98 runs.

However, Orissa put up good batting performance in the second innings as they declared at 219 for five. Amiya Ray followed his 67 in the first innings with an unbeaten 61 in the second. Among other Orissa batsmen, Prasanta Mohapatra, Rajesh Singh and Sushil Prasad made notable contributions. The match ended in draw with Assam one for no loss in the second innings at stumps on the final day.

SCORECARD (Orissa Match No 125):

ORISSA (1st innings): Prasanta Mohapatra c Borah b Rajinder Singh 5, Manas Ray c Rajinder Singh b Kakoti 12, Asjit Jaiprakasham c Pandit b D Chakraborty 1, Ranjib Biswal b Rajinder Singh 0, Rajesh Singh c Baruah b Thakkar 25, Amiya Ray b Rajinder Singh 67, +Bishnu Deb Mohanty st Pandit b Thakkar 5, Abakash Khatua not out 35, Sushil Kumar Prasad st Pandit b Thakkar 0, *Sourajit Mohapatra b Thakkar 4, Manoj Patel b Borah 7; Extras (lb-6, nb-9) 15
Total (all out, 91 overs) 176
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-18, 3-18, 4-21, 5-86, 6-100, 7-134, 8-138, 9-150, 10-176
Assam bowling: Rajinder Singh 24-8-46-3, Kakoti 6-1-15-1, D Chakraborty 2-0-6-1, Javed Khan 8-0-17-0, Rajput 9-2-9-0, Thakkar 26-8-53-4, SG Chakraborty 13-1-23-0, Borah 3-2-1-1.

ASSAM (1st innings): LS Rajput b Kumar Prasad 125, D Chakraborty lbw Kumar Prasad 31, Zahir Alam lbw Biswal 0, +CS Pandit c PR Mohapatra b Kumar Prasad 54, *RK Borah st Mohanty b Kumar Prasad 12, Rajinder Singh c Jaiprakasham b Kumar Prasad 26, KK Baruah c Roy b S Mohapatra 22, RC Thakkar not out 28, Javed Khan run out 30, SG Chakraborty DNB, M Kakoti DNB; Extras (b-12, lb-7, nb-7, w-4) 30
Total (8 wickets, declared, 107.2 overs) 358
Fall of wickets: 1-97, 2-110, 3-213, 4-234, 5-261, 6-299, 7-312, 8-358
Orissa bowling: Biswal 25-3-91-1, S Mohapatra 14.2-0-72-1, Rajesh Singh 8-3-28-0, Khatua 7-2-13-0, Kumar Prasad 44-18-98-5, Patel 9-0-37-0.

ORISSA (2nd innings): PR Mohapatra lbw Javed Khan 42, M Ray c Borah b Rajinder Singh 0, A Jaiprakasham not out 21, R Biswal lbw Thakkar 6, Rajesh Singh c Pandit b Thakkar 32, S Kumar Prasad c Zahir Alam b Thakkar 36, A Ray not out 61; Extras (b-6, lb-10, nb-5) 21
Total (5 wickets, declared, 73 overs) 219
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-67, 3-79, 4-109, 5-172
Assam bowling: Rajinder Singh 6-0-25-1, Kakoti 3-0-9-0, D Chakraborty 1-0-7-0, Javed Khan 5-3-11-1, Rajput 12-1-36-0, Thakkar 31-5-84-3, SG Chakraborty 14-2-26-0, Borah 1-0-5-0.

ASSAM (2nd innings): LS Rajput not out 0, D Chakraborty not out 0; Extras (nb-1) 1
Total (no wicket, 1 overs) 1
Orissa bowling: S Mohapatra 1-0-1-0.