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A superb haul of seven wickets for 27 runs by medium pacer Basant Mohanty and a half-century each by Niranjan Behera and Subit Biswal put hosts Orissa in a advantegious position on the very first day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Group-A Super League match against Punjab at the East Coast Railway ground in Bhubaneswar today.
Put into bat by Orissa skipper Shiv Sundar Das, Punjab were skittled out before lunch for a paltry total of 60. In reply, the home side rode on a 127-run third wicket partnership between Behera (74) and Biswal (54) to finish the fruitful day at 148 for five.
The virgin pitch with a fair amount of grass on it proved to be an ideal hunting ground for Basant, who bamboozled the opposition with his deceptive pace and movement off the track to set up a pre-celebration for his 22nd birthday tomorrow.
In his first spell of nine overs, the tall and lanky Basant broke the backbone of Punjab, bagging five wickets for 27 runs. His second spell, comprising just two balls, fetched him two wickets. In the process, Basant bettered his previous career best figures of six for 28 against Bengal at Siligudi last year.
Former India swing bowler Debasis Mohanty provided good support to his understudy Basant, picking two wickets for 18 runs. Skipper Pankaj Dharmani (23 not out) was the only Punjab batsman to reach double figures.
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Desperate to post their first win of the season, Orissa would have been better placed if they had not lost three wickets in space of two runs towards fag end of the day. Experienced speedster Gagandeep Singh salvaged some pride by scalping four wickets for 18 runs.
After suffering the batting debacle, Punjab fought back with vengeance to reduce the hosts to two for nine. But Behera`s defiant knock of 74, comprising 10 boundaries and Biswal`s 52 (4x7, 6x1) helped Orissa overcome the early crisis.
Delighted by the bowling feat of Basant, Orissa Cricket Association announced a cash award of Rs 50,000 for the young bowler. Co-host East Coast Railway also announced a cash award of Rs 5,000 for its employee Subit Biswal, who played some spectacular shots in his half-century.
SCOREBOARD
PUNJAB (1st innings):
Sunny Sohal b B Mohanty 1
Karan Goel lbw D Mohanty 8
Ravi Inder singh c H Das b B Mohanty 4
P Dharmani (not out) 23
Uday Kaul lbw D Mohanty 2
Tarwar Kohli lbw B Mohanty 0
Ankur Kakkar c ( Dhiraj b B Mohanty 0
Manpreet Gony b B Mohanty 8
Gagandeep Singh b S Khatua 5
Siddharth Kaul b B Mohanty 7
Sarabjit Singh Ladda lbw B Mohanty 0
Extras (nb-2) 2
Total (all out, 25.2 overs, 118 min) 60
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-13, 3-15, 4-17, 5-24, 6-26, 7-36, 8-45, 9-60, 10-60
Bowling:
Debasis Mohanty 10-1-18-2
Basant Mohanty 9.2-1-27-7
PJayachandra 3-2-6-0
Sukant Khatua 3-1-9-1
ORISSA (1st innings):
Bikash Pati c T Kohli b Gagandeep 0
SS Das c T Kohli b Gagandeep 9
Niranjan Behera lbw Gagandeep 74
Subit Biswal b S Kaul 54
Debasis Mohanty c R Inder b Gagandeep 1
Pravanjan Mullick (batting) 1
P Jayachandra (batting) 0
Extras (b-4, lb-3, nb-2) 9
Total (5 wkts, 60 overs) 148
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-19, 3-146, 4-146, 5-147
Bowling:
Gagandeep Singh 16-9-18-4
Manpreet Gony 16-4-37-0
Siddharth Kaul 10-2-22-1
Sarabjit Singh Ladda 14-1-44-0
Ankur Kakkar 2-0-12-0
Taruwar Kohli 2-0-9-9
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