Bhubaneswar: Young pace sensation Rajesh Mohanty (6/55) bowled a magnificent spell to guide Odisha to an emphatic nine-wicket victory over Assam in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match at Guwahati, Thursday.
Rajesh finished with a match figure of 11/86 including fifers in both the innings. After three matches, Odisha are on fifth position with seven points including a win, a draw and a loss.
At one stage, Assam were tottering at 96/7, 23 runs behind Odisha’s first innings lead. Had Odisha managed to bowl them out inside those 23 runs, they could have bag one bonus point.
This was after Assam, who resumed their play at an overnight 60/4, lost wickets at regular intervals to be reduced to 96/7. However, overnight batsman Sibsankar Roy (56, 124b, 7×4, 1×6) and Ranjit Mali (11) added 35 runs for the eighth wicket, forcing the visitors to bat again.
However, the duo got out of successive deliveries before Assam lost their final wicket on 132. Rajesh was the wrecker-in-chief and he was well supported by Debabrata Pradhan (2/35).
Chasing a paltry 14 runs to win, Govind Poddar (9 n o) and Rajesh Dhuper (0 n o) comfortably took Odisha home after losing Anurag Sarangi (5) at the top.
Brief scores: Assam 121 & 132 (Sibsankar Roy 56; Rajesh Mohanty 6/55) lost to Odisha 240 and 16/1 by 9 wickets.
