Bhubaneswar: Opener Sandeep Patnaik (123, 213b, 22×4) fought a lone battle Thursday as Orissa suffered another batting collapse against Saurashtra at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. After bowling out Orissa for 228, Saurashtra were four without loss at stumps in the Ranji Trophy Group B encounter..
After put into bat, openers Sandeep and Ranjit Singh (30, 84b, 5×4) provided a good start of 85 runs. After Ranjit’s dismissal, skipper Govind Poddar (21, 64b, 2×4) looked to settle down. But once he was dismissed, things turned from bad to worse for Orissa. Suddenly from 121 for one they were reduced to 147 for five with Anurag Sarangi (2), Subhransu Senapati (4) and Biplab Samantray (0) falling in quick succession.
Saurabh Rawat (17, 41b, 2×4) and Sandeep stemmed the rot with a 34-run stand for the sixth wicket, but they were always fighting a lost cause. Sandeep was the eighth batsman to be dismissed at 201 and after his departure Basant Mohanty (16 n o, 38b, 2×4) put on some crucial runs.
Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (4-67) was the wrecker-in-chief for Saurashtra while Deepak Punia (2-36), Chirag Jani (2-43) and Shaurya Sandia (2-44) chipped in at crucial junctures.
Brief scores: Orissa 228 (Sandeep Patnaik 123; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 4-67); Saurashtra 4 for no loss.
Other Group-B matches
(At Mumbai): Maharashtra 290 for 2 (Swapnil Gugale 152 batting, Ankit Bawne 120 batting) vs Delhi.
(At Greater Noida): Karnata-ka 248 for 3 (Ravikumar Samarth 118 batting, Karun Nair 74) vs Jharkhand.
(At Visakhapatnam): Assam 195 (Rishav Das 93 n o; Pankaj Singh 5-39) vs Rajathan.
All matches to continue, Friday.
Draw salvaged
Abhishek Yadav (109 n o, 231b, 8×4, 3×6) scored a brilliant century Thursday to help the Orissa U-23 side draw their game against Haryana in the CK Nayudu trophy game at Barwala, Thursday. Haryana secured three points following their first innings lead while Orissa bagged one point.
Brief scores
Orissa 257 and 242 for 4 (Abhishek Yadav 109 n o, Devendra S Kunwar 81); Haryana 274 for 9 dec (Arun Chaprana 87, GA Singh 84; Pappu Roy 4-102).
