Cuttack: Hosts Odisha after dismissing Jammu and Kashmir for 124 in the first innings were 136 for the loss of seven wickets in their second innings at stumps on day 2 of their Elite Group C Ranji Trophy encounter at the DRIEMS ground, Monday. Rajesh Dhuper (six batting) and Rajesh Mohanty (four batting) are at the crease.
Odisha who took a lead of 37 runs in the first innings are thus ahead by 174 runs. They should look to stretch the lead as much as possible if they want to win their fifth successive game on the trot.
In the second innings a number of Odisha batsmen – Shantanu Mishra (26), Anurag Sarangi (26), Debasish Samantray (23) and Subhranshu Senapati (17) – had starts but failed to consolidate their efforts into a big knock. The result has been that once more the Odisha batting has looked frail.
However, it should be stated here that there is a lot of assistance in the wicket for the fast bowlers and the hosts took full advantage of it to send the J-K batsmen packing in the first innings. As usual old warhorse Basant Mohanty (4/42) was the star performer with the ball. Basant who is playing his 97th first class game is slowly, but surely inching to the 400-wicket mark as his current tally now stands at 380. Among his wickets was the prized one of Parvez Rasool who was caught behind for 10.
Basant was well supported by the three other pacers – Debabrata Pradhan (3/12), Suryakant Pradhan (2/36) and Rajesh Mohanty (1/32). However, with the Odia batsmen again failing in the second innings the onus now once more lies with the pacers to bowl out the opposition and ensure victory for their side.
PNN