Bhubaneswar: Orissa bowlers were back in business Friday and helped their team garner a crucial first innings lead in their Group B Ranji Trophy encounter against Saurashtra at Hyderabad. The bowlers destroyed the much-vaunted batting line up of Saurashtra and restricted them to 186. With a first innings lead of 42 runs, Orissa were 62 for two at close on day two. They are now 104 runs ahead with eight wickets in hand.
More importantly however, Orissa will have to bat really well to put the match out of Saurashtra’s grasp. At stumps, Ranjit Poddar (25 batting) and Anurag Sarangi (13 batting) were holding fort. First innings hero Sandeep Patnaik (8) and skipper Govind Poddar (13) were the two batsmen to be dismissed. 
Pacers Basant Mohanty (4/58) and Suryakant Pradhan (3/37) earlier worked in tandem to wreak havoc in the Saurashtra ranks. They were well-supported by left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh (3/47).
Skipper Jaydev Shah (64, 98b, 8×4) produced Saurashtra’s best batting effort. Chirag Jani (45, 109b, 4×4, 1×6) was the other notable contributor.
Brief Scores: Orissa 228 and 62/2 (Ranjit Singh 25 batting); Saurashtra 186 (Jaydev Shah 64; Basant Mohanty 4/58, Suryakanta Pradhan 3/37, Dhiraj Singh 3/47). Match to continue.
Other Group B mathces
(At Greater Noida): Karnataka 577/6 decl (R Samarth 235, Stuart Binny 97; Ashis Kumar 3/78); Jharkhand 9/0.
(At Visakhapatnam): Assam 195; Rajasthan 208/3 (Mahipal Lomror 84 batting).
All matches to continue Friday.
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