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New Delhi, Jan 14: Orissa fast bowler Basant Mohanty (5/76) finally came to the party with his 11th five-wicket haul in first class cricket against Delhi in a Group B Ranji Trophy tie at the Feroz Shah Kotla, here Wednesday.
The hosts who were 248 for the loss of five wickets at stumps Tuesday could only add another 105 runs before being dismissed for 353 in their first innings on a day when play was curtailed due to bad light.
Orissa were 25 for the loss of Subhrajit Sahoo’s wicket who was run out. Girija Rout (14 batting) and Govind Poddar (one batting) were at the crease when stumps were called.
There is nothing really in the wicket and the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch is the best to bat on the third day. Now it will be up to the Orissa batters to back up Basant’s lion-hearted bowling effort. They will have to bat with grit and determination and then only they can think of taking the first innings lead. Orissa decided not to open with Natraj Behera to give stability to the middle order.
It was however, Deepak Behera (2/57) who made the first breakthrough by trapping Puneet Bisht leg before with the last ball of the second over of the day. Two balls later Basant had Shivan Sharma shuffling and playing down the wrong line to be also caught in front. At that point a 350-plus score looked a distant dream.
Mithun Manhas, who was 55 not out overnight moved on serenely to 84 (205b, 7×4, 1×6) playing some lovely shots within the ‘V’. But his hopes of a hundred were dashed when Basant bowled him with an in-cutter.
However, Delhi were then rescued by Navdeep Saini (42, 42b, 6×4, 1×6) and Varun Sood (27, 45b, 1×6). The two put on 67 runs for the ninth wicket as Basant and Deepak were rested and the remainder of the Orissa bowlers failed to maintain pressure.
Basant returning for his second spell cleaned up Sood and Viaks Tokas off successive innings to polish of the Delhi innings.
Brief scores: Delhi 353 (Mithun Manas 84, Basant Mohanty 5/76, Deepak Behera 2/57); Orissa 25 for one. Match to continue.
Other Group B matches
(At Nagpur) Vidarbha 583/9 decl (S Badrinath 89, Ravi Jangid 83, Shrikant Wagh 81; Kamlesh Makvana 4/122). Saurashtra 20/2 (Shrikant Wagh 2/7). Match to continue.
(At Pune) Rajasthan 270 (Puneet Yadav 127; SM Fallah 4/49). Maharashtra 274/9 (CG Khurana batting 82, Shrikant Mundhe 60; Pankaj Singh 3/82, DL Chahar 3/63). Match to continue.
(At Ahmedabad) Gujarat 513/8 decl (Y Venugopal Rao 78, RH Bhatt 150; Vinay Choudhary 3/149). Punjab 9/0. Match to continue
