Bhubaneswar: Suryakant Pradhan (65, 59b, 5×4, 4×6; 5/48) had a wonderful outing on the second day helping Odisha take full command of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group C encounter with Goa at the Vikas Ground here, Tuesday.
After contributing with bat scoring a splendid half century and taking Odisha total from an overnight 229/7 to 352, he bagged five-wicket haul to put Goa in a state of bother as the visitors were bowled out for 116 in their first innings. In the process they conceded a 236-run first innings lead.
However, Odisha decided to bat again in spite of having a chance to force the visitors to follow on. At stumps, the hosts were 37/1, stretching their lead to 273, with Anurag Sarangi (23 batting) and Debasish Samantray (9 batting) batting in the middle.
Nevertheless, the day completely belonged to Suryakant whose all-round show enabled Odisha to go for an outright win in their final group match, possibly their Ranji Trophy campaign finale. If they win the match, they would finish fourth in the 10-team table, led by Rajasthan, with 26 points.
Resuming the play at 229/7, overnight batsmen Suryakant, who was unbeaten on 21 at the end of day one, and Abhishek Raut (33) extended their partnership and took Odisha to 278 before the latter’s departure. However, the tailenders denied Goa to build any momentum stretching their team total past 350 runs.
Suryakant and Basant Mohanty (28, 40b, 3×4, 1×6) added 26 runs to take Odisha past 300 runs before dangerous-looking Sauryakant got out off Amogh Desai (3/77). It didn’t bother the hosts much as the last Odisha pair of Basant and Rajesh Mohanty (30, 25b, 4×4, 1×6) played wonderfully to take their team total to 352, adding 48 runs for the final wicket.
In reply, openers skipper Sagun Kamat (43, 61b, 9×4) and Sumiran Amonkar (20) gave Goa a good start putting on 49 runs before Suryakant gave double blow in quick succession to reduce the visitors to 53/2.
The things turned worse for Goa when they lost five wickets in span of only one run. From 78/2, a dramatic middle-order collapse saw them reeling at 79/7, with Basant (2/16) and Rajesh (3/52) sharing the wickets.
Suryakant completed his five-wicket haul dismissing the last three wickets and wrapping up Goa’s first essay with 116 on the board. Besides the openers, only three others managed to reach double figures.
However, Odisha decided to bat again in spite of having an advantage of forcing the visitors to follow on. And the decision turned out to be wrong when they lost opener and first innings’ centurion Sandeep Patnaik on the first ball of their second essay. However, Anurag and Debasish ensured Odisha of no more hiccups on the day.
Brief scores: Odisha 352 (Suryakant Pradhan 65, Rajesh Mohanty 30, Basant Mohanty 28; Amogh Desai 3/77) & 37/1; Goa 116 (Sagun Kamat 43; Suryakant Pradhan 5/48, Rajesh Mohanty 3/52, Basant Mohanty 2/16). Match to continue.
