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Punjab looked out of sorts as Basant Mohanty (4/43), Deepak Behera (4/47) and Alok Mangaraj (2/50) put on a devastating display of pace bowling. Deepak was the pick of the bowlers as he almost singlehandedly wrecked the Punjab top order.
The hosts received an early jolt in the second over itself when Deepak found opener Uday Kaul plumb in front. Deepak returned again in the 24th over and struck twice, grabbing the wickets of Taruwar Kohli and skipper Mandeep Singh in quick succession. Basant meanwhile also got into the act dismissing Jiwanjot Singh in the 27th over with a breakback that had the batsman leg before. Then Deepak struck again rattling in-form Yuvraj Singh’s stumps and bringing the entire Orissa camp on their feet.
The visitors could have been in a more comfortable situation had the bowlers dealt with the hosts’ tail with precision. However, Punjab pacer Manpreet Gony (51 n o, 52b, 6×4) surprised the visitors with a counter-attacking batting display and he was well supported by another pacer Sandeep Sharma (35, 62, 4×4). The two added 94 runs for the last wicket after the hosts had been reduced to 73 for nine.
Earlier, Orissa made four changes to the squad that played against Rajasthan. Alok, Paresh Patel, Aravind Singh and Haladhar Das replacing Suryakant Pradhan, Pratik Das, Natraj Behera and Subhrajit Sahoo.
Opening the innings with Girija Rout (24 batting), Patel (27, 63b, 3×4) started his innings confidently and looked set for a big innings but he was done by a beautiful swinging delivery from Sandeep. At stumps, the visitors were 54/1 with Girija and Govind Poddar holding the fort.
If the visitors can survive the cold early hours Friday, then only they can think of shocking Punjab who are hoping to win the match with a bonus point and qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament.