Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Dec 3: Orissa ended their Ranji Trophy campaign on a sour note going down to Rajasthan by two wickets in their Group A game at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur Thursday. Orissa finished with 12 points from one victory, three losses and four drawn encounters. However, they will escape relegation as in all probability they will finish above Haryana in the nine-team group at eighth. Only the side finishing last will get relegated to Group B.
Rajasthan needed 151 runs for victory when play resumed Thursday. Starting at 79 for two, they lost Puneet Yadav early on. But solid middle-order contributions from Ashok Menaria (20), Rajat Bhatia (31), SS Dobal (52) and Dinesh Yagnik (16 n o) saw them through and even after conceding a first innings lead of 100 runs they came away from the game with full six points. Basant Mohanty (3/65) was the best bowler for Orissa.
A 76-run for the sixth wickets between Dobal and Bhatia changed the complexion of the match. But what helped Rajasthan was that each of their batsmen put a price on their wickets, something which the Orissa batters were unwilling to do when they batted the second time. The pitch also eased as the game progressed and the Orissa pacers lost the incisiveness that they had in the first innings.
Brief scores
Orissa 151 and 129 lost to Rajasthan 51 and 231/8 (SS Dobal 52; Basant Mohanty 3/65) by two wickets.
Other Group A games
(At Guwahati): Bengal 444/6 decl; Assam 143 (Tarjinder Singh 50; Mukesh Kumar 3/20, Pragyan Ojha 3/33) and 72/2. Match to continue.
(At Pune): Maharashtra 212 and 260 (S Mundhe 81, R Trpathi 78; R Vinay Kumar 4/71); Karnataka 180 and 61/1. Match to continue.
(At Nagpur): Vidarbha 504/7 decl; Haryana 241 and 66/2 (N Saini 42; R Jangid 2/17). Match to continue.
