Sunday 6 November 2011

Orissa, Saurashtra fail to get a point from drawn Ranji Trophy game

 
CUTTACK: Hosts Orissa and Saurashtra on Sunday failed to get a single point from the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A that ended in a dull draw at the Barabati Stadium on Sunday.

Replying to Saurashtra's massive 545, Orissa were 494 for seven when stumps were drawn on the final day. With Saurashtra failing to bowl out Orissa, both teams failed to get even a single point from the encounter.

The highlight of the Orissa innings was a career-best 209 by opener Nataraj Behera. Starting the day on 112, Behera completed his maiden double century in first-class cricket.

Along with Abhilash Mallick, he added 90 runs for the fifth wicket before Mallick (64, 8x4) was caught by Sagar Jogiyani off Pratik Mehta with the scoreboard reading 336.

Behera added another 79 runs with Paresh Patel (48, 7x4) for the sixth wicket before being bowled by Mehta with the score on 415.

Behera's double century contained 27 hits to the fence and and two hige sixes off 501 balls during his marathon 731 minutes stay at the crease.

Even as the visitors were smelling success with Behera's exit, the Orissa middle-order frustrated the visitors with cautious batting.

Deepak Behera and Alok Sahoo contributed to the team total with 28 and 21 runs respectively with five hits each to the fence.

For Saurashtra Pratik Mehta was the most successful bowler with two for 12 from six overs. Jaydev Unadkat bagged two wickets each giving away 82 runs while Sandeep Maniar and Ravindra Jadeja accounted for one scalp each both giving away 110 runs.

Orissa will leave for Mohali for its next match against Punjab scheduled to begin on November 10.

Brief Scores: Saurashtra 1st innings: 545 all out Orissa 1st innings: 494 (Nataraj Behera 209, Abhilash Mallick 64, Paresh Patel 48, Bikash Pati 43, PS Mehta 2/12, Jayadev Unadkat 2//82).

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