Bhubaneswar: Odisha pacers wrecked havoc in a lively pitch as they bundled out Rajasthan for a paltry 135 in only 37 overs on day one of their four-day Elite Group C encounter at the Bikash cricket ground here Friday.
Put into bat first Rajasthan faced a batting debacle in a grassy pitch helpful for seam bowlers. Experienced medium pacer Basant Mohanty (6/20) bowled a fiery pace to torment the visitors. He was well supported by promising youngster Rajesh Mohanty (3/63). Suryakant Pradhan (1/49) also picked up a wicket.
Skipper Mahipal Lomror (85, 105b, 14×4, 1×6) was the only batsman to give some resistance to the host’s bowlers. He hit a fluent half-century in one end while wickets were falling like a pack of card in the other end. Had Lomror not played the brilliant knock the visitors would have bundled out within 100. Rahul Chahar (18) played a useful innings lower down the order.
In reply Odisha had also a bad start in their first innings as they were reduced to 78/4 in 39 overs at the end of day one’s play. Debashis Samantray (30 batting) was the highest scorer for India and he was occupying the crease along with Abhishek Raut (22 batting) at stumps. Santanu Mishra (7), Ranjit Singh (2), Subhranshu Senapati (0) and Biplab Samantray (8) couldn’t tackle Rajasthan pacers and fell cheaply.
The hosts were still trailing by 57 runs. Aniket Choudhary (2/39) and TM Ul-Haq (2/8) bowled well for Jharkhand.
Brief scores: Rajasthan 135 (Mahipal Lomror 85; Basant Mohanty 6/20) vs Odisha 78/4 (Debashis Samantray 30 batting; TM Ul-Haq 2/8). Match to continue.