Sambalpur, Jan 7: Ganesh Satish’s 99 (243b, 14×4) and some fine bowling by pacers by Shrikant Wagh (3/52) and Swapnil Bandiwar helped Vidarbha put Orissa on the mat in their Ranji Trophy Group B tie at the Veer Surendra Sai Stadium here Wednesday. After scoring 246 in their first innings, the visitors reduced the hosts to 137 for nine. Vidarbha are now more or less assured a minimum of three points which will come if they get the first innings lead.
Starting the day on 129 for four, Vidarbha lost Ravi Jangid (five) early, but the other overnight batsman Satish, having resumed at a personal score of 62, played a responsible innings. He also put on 48 runs together with Amol Ubarhande (33) for the sixth wicket. Ubarhande then joined hands with Shrikant Wagh (29) to add 56 runs for the seventh wicket. Basant Mohanty (3/44) and Biplab Samantray (3/50) bowled well for Orissa.
Chasing the modest total, Orissa were soon in trouble at 17 for three. Natraj Behera (four), Girija Rout (three) and Arvind Singh (two) left in quick succession – the early damage done by Wagh and Bandiwar. Govind Poddar (26) and Biplab (33) put on 45 runs for the fourth wicket to stem the rot somehow.
But then Biplab and skipper Avilash Mallick departed off successive deliveries in the 27th over bowled by the third seamer Ravi Kumar Thakur and Orissa never recovered.
Brief scores: Vidarbha 240 (Ganesh Satish 99, Basant Mohanty 3/44, Biplab Samantray 3/50); Orissa 137 for nine (Biplab Samantray 33, Deepak Behera 33, Swapnil Bandiwar 3/29, Shrikant Wagh 3/52). Match to continue.
Other games of Group B
(At Rohtak): Delhi 278 and 134 for 5 (Gautam Gambhir 46, Joginder Sharma 3/18). Match to continue.
(At Jaipur): Rajasthan 433; Punjab 274 (Gitansh Khera 63, Aniket Choudhary 4/57) and F/O 85 for 3 (Taruwar Kohli 34 batting). Match to continue.
(At Rajkot): Maharashtra 519; Saurashtra (Sheldon Jackson 102, Chiragh Khurana 5/70) and F/O 53 for four. Match to continue.
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