16-Mar-1998
Century in both innings by captain Shiv Sundar Das went in vain as victory eluded host Orissa by a whisker against Punjab in their four-day Ranji Trophy Super League Group-A match, which ended in an exciting draw on the last day at Berhampur Stadium in Berhampur today.
Chasing a daunting target of 422 for victory, Punjab escaped defeat by the skin of their teeth. When the match ended in draw, Punjab were 88 for nine in their second innings. However, Orissa secured five points from the match by virtue of taking first-innings lead, while Punjab settled with three points.
Earlier opting to bat after winning the toss, Orissa made 261 and then dismissed Punjab for 145 to take a first-innings lead of 116 runs. In the second innings, Orissa declared at 305 for six.
Captain Das was the undisputed star of the match, hitting 110 (198b, 17x4) in the first innings and 131 (184b, 12x4, 1x6) in the second. “Scoring a century in both the innings of a match is a feat I achieved for the first time in my career, including junior level. It is a special feeling and very satisfying one for me,’’ said Das after the match.
Das, in fact, achieved a glorious hat-trick in this match as he became the first batsman from Orissa to score three successive centuries in first-class cricket. He had notched the first of the three tons with 120 in the second innings of their previous super league match against Railways earlier this month at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack.
Apart from Das, three more Orissa players put up notable performance in this match. Among them, Rashmi Ranjan Parida missed a century by one run in the second innings. Off-spinner Sanjay Satpathy, who had captured 10 wickets in the previous match, continued his fine run with six for 80 against Punjab, while left-arm spinner Jagannath Prasad Das finished with a match haul of five for 49 on his first-class debut.
SCORECARD (Orissa Match No 158):
ORISSA (1st innings): BBCC Mohapatra b S Sharma 27, P Jayachandra c Dharmani b Bhushan 7, Pravanjan Mullick c S Sharma b Bhushan 4, *Shiv Sundar Das c & b Vij 110, Rashmi Ranjan Parida lbw Vij 18, Pradip Das c A Sharma b Kapoor 11, Robin Morris c Kaku b Vij 17, +Gautam Gopal c Kapuria b S Sharma 24, Sanjay Satpathy run out 2, Shahid Ali Khan not out 13, Jagannath Das c Mehra b Vij 5; Extras (b-5, lb-6, nb-11, w-1) 23
Total (all out, 78.1 overs) 261
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-27, 3-73, 4-140, 5-177, 6-220, 7-236, 8-243, 9-246, 10-261
Punjab bowling: S Sharma 17-4-38-2, Bhushan 11-1-43-2, Harbhajan Singh 13-3-51-0, Kapoor 15-1-58-1, Vij 22.1-6-60-4.
PUNJAB (1st innings): AR Kapoor c & b Morris 0, RS Ricky c & b Satpathy 9, A Sharma c Mullick b Morris 0, *P Dharmani c Gopal b Khan 27, S Kapuria lbw Satpathy 10, HS Kaku c Parida b Satpathy 40, S Sharma c Satpathy b JP Das 14, +M Mehra c Satpathy b JP Das 4, B Vij run out 3, B Bhushan c Gopal b Morris 19, Harbhajan Singh not out 6; Extras (b-5, lb-3, nb-4, w-1) 13
Total (all out, 65.2 overs) 145
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-43, 4-55, 5-55, 6-82, 7-87, 8-96, 9-125, 10-145
Orissa bowling: Morris 14-3-32-3, Jayachandra 4-0-9-0, Satpathy 19.2-4-55-3, Khan 17-7-20-1, JP Das 11-3-21-2.
ORISSA (2nd innings): BBCC Mohapatra lbw Harbhajan Singh 19, P Jayachandra lbw Kapoor 35, PM Mullick lbw Vij 1, *SS Das c & b Vij 131, RR Parida c S Sharma b Vij 99, RF Morris c Bhushan b Kapoor 2, PK Das not out 5; Extras (lb-6, nb-3, w-4) 13
Total (6 wickets, declared, 74.5 overs) 305
Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-54, 3-79, 4-290, 5-296, 6-305
Punjab bowling: S Sharma 9-1-35-0, Bhushan 4-2-13-0, Vij 22.5-1-92-3, Kapoor 16-3-70-2, Harbhajan Singh 20-3-66-1, A Sharma 3-0-23-0.
PUNJAB (2nd innings): S Sharma lbw Morris 5, RS Ricky c Mohapatra b Satpathy 34, *P Dharmani b Satpathy 5, A Sharma b Satpathy 7, S Kapuria c Gopal b JP Das 14, HS Kaku c PK Das b Khan 0, AR Kapoor run out 2, +M Mehra not out 11, B Vij lbw JP Das 0, B Bhushan c Parida b JP Das 0, Harbhajan Singh not out 6; Extras (lb-4) 4
Total (9 wickets, 53 overs) 88
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-11, 3-19, 4-50, 5-55, 6-58, 7-73, 8-74, 9-82
Orissa bowling: Morris 4-1-4-1, Jayachandra 2-0-6-0, Satpathy 18-8-25-3, Khan 13-3-21-1, JP Das 16-7-28-3.
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PHOTO: Undated file photo of Orissa captain Shiv Sundar Das.
