Struggling Odisha achieved a major success in the ongoing Ranji Trophy Championship as they rode on a 10-wicket haul by pace spearhead Basat Mohanty and a gutsy unbeaten half-century by Govind Poddar to crush fancied Punjab by six wickets in their seventh Group-B match at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali today.
Chasing a modest target of 126, Odisha rode on unbeaten 60 (137 balls, 7x4, 1x6) by Poddar to canter home with a day to spare. The three-pronged pace of brigade Odisha set the stage for the thumping win, bundling out hosts Punjab for 141 in the second innings. India discard Yuvraj (56) Singh and Gurkeerat Singh (43) saved Punjab complete collapse, putting on 61 runs for the sixth wicket.
Mohanty, who scalped four wickets in the first innings, added six more in the second to finish with match haul of 10 for 85. He received solid support from Deepak Behera, who returned with match figures of seven wickets for 91 runs.
Earlier, put into bat Punjab were bowled out for 167 in the first innings. The three-pronged Odisha pace brigade, comprising Basant Mohanty, Deepak Behera and Alok Mangaraj, wreaked havoc as they reduced the home team to 73 for nine. Tail-enders Manpreet Gony and Sandeep Sharma saved the home team from a complete collapse, putting on 94 runs in the last-wicket stand. Gony, the top scorer of the Punjab innings, remained unbeaten on 51.
In reply, Odisha took a 16-run lead by making 183. Anurag Sarangi and wicket-keeper Haladhar Das shone with the bat, making 47 and 36. Medium-pacer Siddharth Kaul was most successful bowler for Punjab, bagging five wickets for 34 runs.
This was the second win in seven matches for Odisha, who posted their first victory against Haryana. Both the wins were creditable ones as they came at away venues. The much-needed win against Punjab fetched Odisha six points and helped them move up from the bottom to eighth position in the group table. They now have 14 points and will their last league match against bottom-placed Saurashtra at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack from February 6 to 9.
SCOREBOARD
PUNJAB (1st innings): Jiwanjot Singh lbw Mohanty 27, Uday Kaul lbw D Behera 0, Taruwar Kohli c H Das b D Behera 14, Mandeep Singh lbw D Behera 0, Yuvraj Singh b D Behera 4, Gurkeerat Mann c H Das b Mohanty 9, Gitansh Khera lbw Mohanty 2, Vinay Choudhary c H Das b Mangaraj 6, Siddharth Kaul c H Das b Mohanty 6, Manpreet Gony (not out) 51, Sandeep Sharma b Mangaraj 35; Extras (b-5, lb-3, nb-5) 13
Total (All out; 57.2 overs) 167
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-44, 3-44, 4-44, 5-52, 6-59, 7-60, 8-73, 9-73, 10-167
Bowling: Basant Mohanty 16-4-43-4, Deepak Behera 18-6-47-4, Alok Mangaraj 15.2-6-50-2, Biplab Samantaray 4-1-10-0, Arabind Singh 2-1-6-0, Paresh Patel 2-0-3-0
ODISHA (1st innings): Paresh Patel b S Sharma 27, Girija Rout lbw Kaul 26, Govind Podder c M Singh b S Sharma 10, Anurag Sarangi c Y Singh b Gony 47, Biplab Samantray lbw Kaul 9, Abhilash Mallick lbw Kaul 6, Aravind Singh b Kaul 7, Haladhar Das c Kohli b Kaul 36, Deepak Behera (run out) 1, Basant Mohanty b S Sharma 0, Alok Mangaraj (not out) 2; Extras (b-2, lb-5, nb-5) 12
Total (all out; 81.1 overs) 183
Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-56, 3-76, 4-110, 5-118, 6-130, 7-161, 8-169, 9-173, 10-183
Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 28-8-65-3, S Kaul 24.1-12-34-5, M Gony 20-2-59-1, T Kohli 1-0-3-0, V Choudhary 8-3-15-0
PUNJAB (2nd innings): J Singh c H Das b D Behera 0, U Kaul c H Das b Mangaraj 10, T Kohli c Sarangi b Mohanty 3, M Singh lbw Mohanty 4, Yuvraj Singh c H Das b Mohanty 56, S Kaul c Patel b D Behera 1, G Mann b D Behera 43, G Khera lbw Mohanty 1, V Choudhary b Mohanty 0, M Gony lbw Mohanty 15, S Sharma (not out) 3; Extras (lb-4, w-1) 5
Total (all out; 52.2 overs) 141
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-7, 3-13, 4-36, 5-37, 6-98, 7-107, 8-107, 9-126, 10-141
Bowling: D Behera 17-2-44-3, B Mohanty 19.2-8-42-6, A Mangaraj 15-3-47-1, Biplab Samantaray 1-0-4-0
ODISHA (2nd innings): P Patel c Yuvraj b S Sharma 29, G Rout c Khera b S Kaul 0, G Poddar (not out) 60, A Sarangi st Khera b Chaudhari 12, B Samantaray c Mandeep b Gony 11, A Mallick (not out) 10; Extras (lb-2, nb-3) 5
Total (4 wkts; 47.3 overs) 127
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-44, 3-82, 4-108
Bowling: S Sharma 14-3-39-1, S Kaul 15-2-36-1, M Gony 13-3-34-1, V Chaudhary 5.3-2-16-1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PHOTO: Victorious Odisha team in Mohali on January 31, 2015