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Sunday, Dec 02, 2007
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Mohanty dents Hyderabad’s hopes

Principal Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Fast bowler Debasis Mohanty bowled a splendid post-lunch spell and picked up three vital wickets to dent Hyderabad’s hopes of posting a big score. The host finished at 201 for eight on the first day of the Ranji Trophy super league cricket match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium (Uppal) here on Saturday.

For the second consecutive match, the Hyderabad batting failed to capitalise on a good start provided by the flamboyant D.B. Ravi Teja (81, 79b, 12x4). The home team slipped from a comfortable 123 for two in 36 overs at lunch to a miserable 175 for seven in 63 overs at tea thanks to Mohanty’s spell, relying predominantly on teasing outswingers.

In fact, one such ball tempted the dangerous-looking Teja to go for an off-drive without moving his feet only to snick to the wicketkeeper. Once Orissa got the breakthrough, it never looked back.

Noteworthy effort

Other than Teja, who notched up his eighth Ranji half-century, a noteworthy effort in the morning session came from Behera, who took a brilliant diving catch at the second slip when Anoop Pai (6) failed to resist the temptation of playing an away swinger from Jayachandra.

Once Saighal induced southpaw Daniel Manohar (41, 4x4) to flick one straight to mid-on in the fourth over after lunch, Mohanty took charge, sending back Amol Shinde (2) who snicked to Parida in the slips.

He then trapped a struggling Santosh Yadav (2) leg before and later saw his captain S.S. Das come up with a sharp catch at slip to see the exit of M.P. Arjun.

Not far behind was Sourav Saighal, who took the vital wicket of Hyderabad captain N. Arjun Yadav (7), caught by S.S. Das in the slips.

These blows effectively had Hyderabad in a corner at 144 for seven. Things could have been worse, but for Pragyan Ojha, who survived till close after being dropped very early.

Ojha and Ashwin Yadav kept the Orissa bowlers at bay and helped the team cross the 200-run mark. Bad light stopped play nine overs before the scheduled close.

The scores: Hyderabad — 1st innings: Daniel Manohar c N. Behera b S. Saighal 41, D.B. Ravi Teja c H. Das b D. Mohanty 81, S. Anoop Pai c N. Behera b P. Jayachandra 6, N. Arjun Yadav c S.S. Das b S. Saighal 7, Amol Shinde c R.R. Parida b D. Mohanty 2, Santosh Yadav lbw b D. Mohanty 2, M.P. Arjun c S.S. Das b D. Mohanty 19, Habib Ahmed c D. Mohanty b S. Saighal 0, P. Ojha (batting) 19, Ashwin Yadav (batting) 13; Extras: (b-1, lb-6, w-1, nb-3): 11. Total (for eight wkts., in 81 overs): 201.

Fall of wickets: 1-97, 2-114, 3-137, 4-140, 5-142, 6-143, 7-144, 8-184.

Orissa bowling: D. Mohanty 25-7-49-4, P. Das 14-5-33-0, P. Jayachandra 7-0-32-1, R. Mohanty 6-1-18-0, Niranjan 3-2-9-0, S. Saighal 26-5-53-3.

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