Naman Ojha's calculated assault on the Orissa bowling lifted Madhya Pradesh to a five-wicket victory in a Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinal match at a dusty Motera ground on Tuesday.
The opener walked back to a standing ovation from teammates, unbeaten 109 (137 balls, 12 x 4, 3 x 6) as M.P. (231 for five) chased down Orissa's 227.
Ojha, who took charge in the wake of skipper Jalaj Saxena's dismissal in the fifth over, gave confidence to other strokeplayers with his solidity at one end. Monish Mishra's rapid fire 47 (50b) had three sixes while Harpreet Singh hit through the line in a show of power for 21 off 20 balls.
Though Orissa's outfielding was excellent, it could not halt the M.P. advance as Abbas Ali (14), Anand Singh (10), Shadab Khan (11) kept up a healthy scoring rate to help their side overhaul the target in 46.4 overs.
Earlier, Orissa scrambled 227 runs in 49.4 overs after being asked to bat. A. Singh (three for 41) and A. Sharma (three for 43) were successful for the winner, who now move to Rajkot for the semifinals.
The scores: Orissa: P. Patel c Mishra b Saxena 41, N. Behra c Mishra b A. Singh 25, B. Niranjan (run out) 44, H. Das c & b Sharma 18, R. Mohanty (run out) Ojha 27, R.R. Das c Ojha b Sharma 1, B.S. Ray lbw b Sharma 0, B. Panda c Sudhindra b A. Singh 37, A.C. Sahoo c Khan b A. Singh 17, D. Mohanty c & b Sudhindra 6, D. Singh (not out) 1, Extras (lb-4, w-6) 10, Total (in 49.4 overs) 227.
Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-97, 3-132, 4-138, 5-144, 6-144, 7-104, 8-204, 9-218.
Madhya Pradesh bowling: Sudhindra 9-0-50-1, Pandey 8-2-21-0, A. Singh 8.4-0-41-3, Saxena 10-1-40-1, A. Sharma 10-0-43-3, Abbas Ali 4-0-28-0.
Madhya Pradesh: J. Saxena c A. Mohanty b Panda 13, N. Ojha (not out) 109, M. Mishra c D. Mohanty b Samantray 47, H. Singh lbw R. Mohanty 21, A. Ali c Samantray b Sahoo 14, S. Khan (not out) 11, Extras (lb-3, w-3) 6, Total (for five wkts. in 46.4 overs) 231.
Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-110, 3-139, 4-166, 5-194.
Orissa bowling: D. Mohanty 9-1-30-0, A. Sahoo 8-2-33-1, B. Panda 7-0-34-1, D. Singh 4-0-28-0, P. Patel 7.4-0-42-0, B. Samantray 6-1-37-1, R. Mohanty 5-0-24-2.
