Orissa earn exciting victory

Post News Network

Cuttack, Feb 9: Biplab Samantray, the moment, he gets his match fees for the Saurashtra game, which concluded Monday here at the Barabati Stadium with Orissa scripting a thrilling two-wicket win, should distribute the amount equally among Deepak Behera and Basant Mohanty. The two not only prevented Orissa from being relegated but also saw to it that Biplab’s hara-kiri did not turn out to be a death knell for Orissa.

With the score on 262, Biplab (19, 60b, 1×4) went for a pull off the bowling off Siddharth Trivedi (4/45), a shot which was not necessary at that time. The ball climbed on him and Biplab could only top edge it to Jaidev Unadkat at mid-wicket and one could hear the alarm bells ringing for Orissa. But then Deepak (21, n o, 23b, 3×4) and Basant (10 n o, 14b, 2×4) had other ideas.

They cracked some spanking boundaries and then when Deepak hit the winning run off the bowling of Sudeep Tyagi, the celebrations erupted. All the Orissa players, who till then had been biting their nails rushed on to the ground to congratulate the two. Deepak and Basant deserved every bit of it – the duo had won many a game with their bowling. But their efforts with the bat Monday will go down in the Orissa cricket annals as ‘the great Houdini act’.

But if the pacers did the job in the end with the bat, it was Anurag Sarangi (83, 203b, 11×4) and Govind Poddar (64, 167b, 8×4) who laid the platform for this memorable win. The two put on 155 runs for the third wicket and above all saw to it that Orissa did not suffer any reverses when the wicket had a fair bit of life early on.

Anurag’s drives through the covers were a treat to watch and he was also severe on anything short using the hook and pull to great effect. Govind on the other hand played within the ‘V’ hitting some lovely drives in front of the wicket. They looked good enough to carry Orissa through.

But then within the space of five overs things drastically changed for Orissa as they lost Anurag, Govind and Natraj Behera (0) in quick succession. Anurag was unlucky to be declared leg before off Chirag Dani while Unadkat castled both Govind and Natraj with incoming deliveries that kept a trifle low.

Skipper Abhilash Mallick (21, 42b, 4×4) played a crucial knock to stem the rot before Basant and Deepak finished off the job and Orissa were home and dry finishing fifth in the nine-team pool. Something unimaginable, a couple of weeks back.

Brief scores: Saurashtra 218 and 152; Orissa 88 and 283 for 8 (Anurag Sarangi 83, Govind Poddar 64, Deepak Behera 21 n o, Siddharth Trivedi 4/45). Orissa won by two wickets.