Bhubaneswar: Veteran Odisha pacer Basant Mohanty (5/29) was at his best yet again bagging a five-wicket haul, but Odisha were down to 6/2 at stumps while chasing 173 in their Ranji Trophy encounter against Rajasthan, at Bikash Ground here, Saturday.
Chasing a target – 173, looks quite small with two days to go in the match, but 18 wickets on the second day (Saturday) tells a different story altogether. Now, it is like climbing a mountain for the hosts who have already lost opener Ranjit Singh (1) and P Roshan Kumar Rao (0). Shantanu Mishra (4 batting) and Debashis Samantaray (1 batting) were batting at the stumps with the hosts requiring 167 more runs to win.
However, it was the veteran pacer Basant, who starred the day as he claimed 10 wickets in the match. He had grabbed 6/20 in the first innings. His spell allowed Odisha wrap up the Rajasthan innings for 148. AV Gautam (51, 119b, 8×4) and SF Khan (39) batted well for the visitors.
Earlier, resuming from an overnight score of 78/4, Odisha lost four quick wickets in span of three runs to be reduced 80/4 to 83/8. However, overnight batsman Debashis (50, 161b, 9×4) completed his half century enabling Odisha to go past 100-run barrier. He was the last Odisha wicket to fall as the hosts were bowled out for 111, conceding a 24-run first innings lead. AV Choudhary (5/49) and TM Haq (5/14) shared all the wickets with a fifer each.
Brief scores: Rajasthan 135 & 148 (AV Gautam 51; Basant Mohanty 5/29); Odisha 111 (Debashis Samantaray 51; AV Choudhary 5/49, TM Haq 5/14) & 6/2. Match to continue.
