Bhubaneswar: Odisha were staring down the barrel at 24 without loss in their second innings trying to wipe out a first innings deficit of 250 runs in their Group C Ranji Trophy encounter against Maharashtra in Pune. At the crease were Shantanu Mishra (14 batting) and Anurag Sarangi (10 batting) when stumps were called Thursday at the MCA Stadium. They still trail by 226 runs and need to bat the entire fourth day if they are to salvage a point from the game.
Earlier Maharashtra declared their first innings at 543 for the loss of five wickets. Skipper Ankit Bawne (204 n o, 406b, 21×4, 1×6) led the run feast as the hosts piled on the misery for the Odisha bowler. Even though overnight centurion Ruturaj Gaikwad (129, 217b, 11×4, 3×6) fell early in the day to Debabrata Pradhan (1/85) the others made life difficult for Odisha.
After Gaikwad’s dismissal Naushad Shaikh (100, 157b, 7×4) and Rahul Tripathi (65, 48b, 7×4, 4×6) hammered the Odia bowlers.
Whatever hopes Odisha had after Gaikwad’s departure, was quickly dashed by Bawne and Shaikh as they put on 180 runs for the fourth wicket to completely take the game away from the visitors. Then Bawne and Tripathi added another 114 runs in quick time for the fifth wicket to seal their side’s dominance over Odisha.
Suryakant Pradhan (2/92) picked up two wickets, while the remaining three were shared between Rajesh Mohanty (1/24), Abhishek Raut (1/98) and Debabrata. It should be stated here that Rajesh bowled only two overs in the day after suffering an injury. He left the field early on and it is doubtful whether he will take any further part in the game.
Left-arm spinner Pappy Roy who was included in the team went for 151 runs in his 40 overs and remained wicket-less.
PNN