Bhubaneswar: Odisha pace duo – young sensation Rajesh Mohanty (5/49) and seasoned Basant Mohanty (4/21) – helped the team register their fourth win in their Ranji Trophy 2018-19 season, which came to an end in spite of a comprehensive 276-run victory over minnows Goa in their final Elite Group C match on the third day at the Vikas Ground here, Wednesday.
With this win, Odisha finished their leading domestic event campaign at the fourth place with 26 points from nine matches, including four wins, three losses and a couple of draws. Rajasthan led the 10-team standings with an unbeaten record – seven wins and two draws, finishing with 51 points.
Come to the match, Goa were completely outplayed by the hosts in every section. Chasing a massive target of 388, the visitors were bowled out cheaply for 111. In fact, they couldn’t even manage to come close to Odisha’s first innings total of 352.
After bowling the visitors out for 116 in their first essay, Odisha decided to bat again, rather than forcing them to follow on. As a result, the hosts managed to score only 151 runs, with Sujit Lenka (39, 30b, 8×4) being the top scorer.
The score in their second essay, however, didn’t bother the hosts that much as their frontline pacers completed the job with much ease.
Goa never looked like in the chase and, Rajesh and Basant struck twice each in first seven overs to made things even worse for the visitors as they were reduced to 11/4.
However a 33-run stand between Amogh Desai (28) and SS Kauthankar (15) avoid a situation what could possibly be of more humiliating. Then small contributions from the lower-order helped them go past 100-run mark before Rajesh wrapped up the Goa innings, completing his five-wicket haul.
Earlier resuming the play at an overnight 37/1, Odisha lost wickets at regular intervals to be reduced to 85/6. However, small partnerships between the lower-order batsmen enabled the hosts to go past 150-run mark.
Lakshay Garg (5/75) bagged a five-wicket for Goa while Krishna Das (4/57) supported him well. However, their batsmen couldn’t do much against a disciplined Odisha pace attack to suffer their seventh loss this season, making an end to their campaign winless.
Brief scores: Odisha 352 & 151 (Sujit Lenka 39; Lakshay Garg 5/75, Krishna Das 4/57) bt Goa 116 & 111 (Amogh Desai 28; Rajesh Mohanty 5/49, Basant Mohanty 4/21) by 276 runs.
KEY STATS
608 Runs scored by Subhranshu Senapati in 9 matches at an average of 46.77
including a century and three half century, most by an Odisha player this
season with Anurag Sarangi (490; 8 matches) being second
40Wickets taken by Basant Mohanty in 8 matches including 4 five-wicket hauls,
10th (so far) in the overall list and most among the Odisha bowlers with Rajesh
Mohanty (35; 8 matches) being second
