Career best knock of 56 by tail-ender Suryakant Pradhan went in vain as hosts Odisha suffered a 35-run defeat against Team Rajasthan on the penultimate day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group-C match at Vikash Cricket Ground in Bhubaneswar today.

This was the third defeat for Odisha, who slipped from sixth to eighth position in the group table with 13 points from six matches so far. Odisha will next meet Jammu & Kashmir at Gandhi Memorial Government Science College Ground in Jammu from December 22 to 25.

The Odisha-Rajasthan match ended with more than one day to spare. Odisha lost the match as they were bowled out for 137 in the second innings, while chasing a challenging target of 173 and resuming at the overnight score of six for two.

Suryakant Pradhan delayed the defeat with his 33-ball cameo knock, which was his second first-class fifty and included five boundaries and four sixes. Besides Pradhan, Subhranshu Senapati and Debasis Samantray put up some resistance with contributions of 36 and 21 runs respectively.

Put into bat by Odisha skipper Biplab Samantaray on the opening day, Team Rajasthan were reduced to 67 for six before a defiant knock of 85 by captain MK Lomror enabled them to muster a 150-plus total. Master medium-pace Basant Mohanty destroyed the opposition innings, bagging six wickets for 20 runs.

This was his 20th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. Basant was well supported by his understudy Rajesh Mohanty, who picked up three wickets for 63 runs. Odisha wicket-keeper P Rosan Kumar Rao achieved a milestone on his first-class debut, taking five catches behind the stumps.

But after putting up magnificent bowling performance, Odisha conceded a first-innings lead of 24 runs by getting all out for 111. Debutant Debasish Samantray waged a lone battle for Odisha, hitting a 161-ball 50, which included nine boundaries. Apart from him, only Abhishek Raut (24) could reach double figures.

Odisha, however, bounced back into the match by dismissing the opposition for 148 in the second innings. Basant Mohanty once again destroyed the Rajasthan batting line-up, claiming five wickets for 29 runs and 11 for 49 in the match. This was the third time that he bagged 10 wickets or more in a first-class match. He was adjudged the Man of the Match. The second day of the ongoing match proved to be a nightmare for batsmen as 18 wickets fell for 187 runs.

Odisha made four changes in their side that lost to Jharkhand by two runs in the previous match at Ranchi. Batsmen Anurag Sarangi, Rajesh Dhuper, Govinda Poddar and stumper Sujit Lenka were replaced by Ranjit Singh, Shantanu Mishra, Debasish Samantray and P Rosan Kumar Rao. Sarangi was withdrawn after he suffered an injury during practice.

SCOREBOARD

TEAM RAJASTHAN: A Gautam c Raut b B Mohanty 0, Chetan Bist lbw R Mohanty 0, M Lomror c Rao b B Mohanty 85, Robin Bist c Mishra b Pradhan 9, Ashok Menaria c Mishra b R Mohanty 10, S Khan c Rao b B Mohanty 0, A Gupta lbw R Mohanty 8, R Chahar c Rao b B Mohanty 18, A Choudhary c Rao b B Mohanty 2, T Haq c Rao b B Mohanty 1, Nathu Singh (not out) 0; Extras (nb-2) 2
Total (All out; 37 overs) 135
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (C Bist, 1.2 ov), 2-6 (Gautam, 4.2), 3-26 (R Bist, 11.3), 4-57 (Menaria, 20.6), 5-58 (S Khan, 21.4), 6-67 (Gupta, 22.6), 7-105 (Chahar, 30.3), 8-107 (Choudhary, 30.6), 9-134 (Haq, 34.2), 10-135 (Lomror, 36.6)
Bowling: Basant Mohanty 15-6-20-6, Rajesh Mohanty 13-2-63-3, Suryakant Pradhan 8-1-49-1, Dhiraj Singh 1-0-3-0.

ODISHA (1st innings): Shantanu Mishra c C Bist b Haq 7, Ranjit Singh c R Bist b Choudhary 2, Debasish Samantray c Bist b Choudhary 50, Subhransu Senapati c C Bist b Haq 0, Biplab Samantaray lbw Choudhary 8, Abhishek Raut c Bist b Choudhary 24, P Roshan Kumar Rao c Gupta b Haq 3, Suryakant Pradhan b Haq 0, Rajesh Mohanty lbw Haq 0, Basant Mohanty b Choudhary 0, Dhiraj Singh (not out) 0; Extras (w-1, lb-12) 13
Total (All out; 57.2 overs) 111
Fall of wickets: 1-7 (R Singh, 4.1 ov), 2-17 (Mishra, 11.4), 3-17 (Senapati, 13.3), 4-42 (Samantaray, 27.2), 5-80 (Raut, 41.1), 6-83 (Rao, 42.3), 7-83 (Pradhan, 42.4), 8-83 (R Mohanty, 44.2), 9-106 (B Mohanty, 55.5), 10-111 (Samantray, 57.2).
Bowling: A Choudhary 18.2-4-49-5, T Haq 23-15-14-5, Nathu Singh 14-5-31-0, R Chahar 2-1-5-0.

TEAM RAJASTHAN (2nd innings): A Gautam c Raut b D Singh 51, Chetan Bist b R Mohanty 0, M Lomror b B Mohanty 17, Robin Bist b B Mohanty 0, Ashok Menaria c Rao b R Mohanty 13, S Khan b Pradhan 39, A Gupta b B Mohanty 10, R Chahar c Pradhan b D Singh 0, A Choudhary c B Samantaray b B Mohanty 0, T Haq c Mishra b B Mohanty 8, Nathu Singh (not out) 4; Extras (b-5, lb-1) 6
Total (All out; 50.2 overs) 148,
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (C Bist, 0.2 ov), 2-32 (Lomror, 9.6), 3-36 (R Bist, 11.2), 4-68 (Menaria, 25.1), 5-106 (Gautam, 40.2), 6-118 (Gupta, 43.5), 7-123 (Chahar, 44.4), 8-134 (Choudhary, 47.3), 9-144 (Haq, 49.2), 10-148 (S Khan, 50.2)
Bowling: Rajesh Mohanty 7-1-31-2, Basant Mohanty 19-9-29-5, Suryakant Pradhan 10.2-1-36-1, Biplab Samantaray 9-2-19-0, Dhiraj Singh 5-0-27-2.

ODISHA (2nd innings): Shantanu Mishra b Haq 5, Ranjit Singh b Haq 1, P Rosan Kumar Rao lbw Haq 0, Debasish Samantray lbw Choudhary 21, Subhransu Senapati c Khan b Choudhary 36, Biplab Samantaray lbw Choudhary 0, Abhishek Raut c C Bist b Choudhary 8, Suryakant Pradhan c Gupta b N Singh 56, Basant Mohanty b N Singh 1, Dhiraj Singh lbw Choudhary 4, Rajesh Mohanty (not out) 0; Extras (w-1, b-1, lb-3) 5
Total (All out; 45.2 overs) 137
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (R Singh, 3.3 ov), 2-2 (Rao, 3.6 ov), 3-11 (Mishra, 11.2), 4-42 (D Samantray, 21.4), 5-56 (B Samantaray, 27.5), 6-69 (Senapati, 33.6), 7-122 (Raut, 39.2), 8-125 (B Mohanty, 40.2), 9-137 (Pradhan, 44.6), 10-137 (D Singh, 45.2)
Bowling: A Choudhary 20.2-6-25-5, T Haq 14-6-39-3, R Chahar 2-0-26-0, Nathu Singh 9-0-43-2.