Delhi’s joy of dismissing Odisha for only 143 runs turned out to be short-lived.
The visiting team sent back three Delhi batsmen for 62 to leave the contest nicely balanced at the end of an eventful opening day’s play of their Ranji Trophy league match here on Friday.
Opting to bat on a fresh surface at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground, Odisha struggled. The top-order succumbed to the disciplined pace duo of Pawan Suyal and Sumit Narwal before debutant left-arm spinner Manan Sharma polished off the lower-order.
On a pitch that offered variable bounce and promises to become harder as the match progresses, only four Odisha batsmen could reach double-digit scores. Suyal, who took three of the four top batsmen, was rewarded for testing the batsmen with his immaculate line around the off-stump.
Good stand
The only retrieving stand for Odisha came when Haldar Das and Deepak Behera raised 51 runs for the sixth wicket. Manan, son of former Delhi captain Ajay Sharma, made his presence felt when he provided the breakthrough by luring Deepak to his doom.
Thereafter opener Natraj Behera, who was forced to leave the field after being hit by a delivery when on 23, joined Das but the innings could not last long.
Manan sent back Das and Basanta Mohanty off successive deliveries. Nataraj fell to Suyal after adding another 11 runs before Manan finished with a four-wicket haul.
Delhi, looking to build on the advantage given by its bowlers, was made to struggle by the Odisha medium pacers. Basanta Mohanty was truly the pick of the bowlers and was duly rewarded with the wickets of the openers.
Unmukt Chand, who batted for 14 deliveries for three runs, eventually nicked to the wicketkeeper. Mohit Sharma joined Shikhar Dhawan but the batsmen could not gain control.
With Odisha making the batsmen struggle for runs, Mohit departed for a laborious 16 off 62 deliveries.
Dhawan, looking far from convincing during his 121-minute stay, guided a rising delivery into the waiting hands of Rakesh Mohanty at gully to give Odisha a late success.
The scores:
Odisha — 1st innings: P. Patel c Bisht b Suyal 9, Natraj Behera c Bisht b Suyal 35, G. Poddar c Bisht b Narwal 5, B. Samantray lbw b Suyal 1, A. Mallick c Bisht b Awana 9, Rakesh Mohanty c and b Narwal 14, H. Das c Dhawan b Manan 27, Deepak Behera c Milind b Manan 28, Basanta Mohanty lbw b Manan 0, A. Mangaraj c Chand b Manan 8, Dhiraj Singh (not out) 0, Extras (lb-4, nb-3): 7, Total (in 47.1 overs): 143.
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-38, 3-39, 4-63, 5-63, 6-114, 7-123, 8-123, 9-143.
Delhi bowling: P. Awana 9-4-23-1, P. Suyal 14-2-43-3, V. Mishra 5-2-8-0, S. Narwal 11-2-35-2, Manan Sharma 8.1-3-30-4.
Delhi — 1st innings: U. Chand c Das b Basanta Mohanty 3, S. Dhawan c Rakesh Mohanty b Basanta Mohanty 22, Mohit Sharma lbw b Deepak Behera 16, M. Manhas (batting) 12, Manan Sharma (batting) 1, Extras (lb-1, nb-7): 8; Total (for three wkts. in 31 overs): 62.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-41, 3-55.
Odisha bowling: Basanta Mohanty 11-6-21-2, A. Mangaraj 3-2-4-0, Rakesh Mohanty 3-0-10-0, Deepak Behera 7-3-14-1, Biplav Samantray 5-0-12-0, Dhiraj Singh 2-2-0-0.
