Another Oriya success story

By Our Sports Reporter

GWALIOR, MARCH 26. Orissa's success story continued. It inflicted a crushing seven-wicket defeat on Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals at the Roop Singh Stadium here on Monday.

Rashmi Ranjan Parida and Pravanjan Mullick were the men who took Orissa to the winning target of 192 after Madhya Pradesh had stretched its second innings from 153 for six to 233 for nine and declared. At 52 for three, Orissa, which had taken the first innings lead, looked to be in some trouble, but MP's hopes were dashed beyond repair by the gutsy Parida and Mullick.

In a match in which fortunes fluctuated through the course of the last two days, Orissa came up trumps in a display of patience and self-belief to make its maiden semifinals of the National championship.

Baroda-Orissa semifinals at Baroda

Orissa will meet Baroda in Baroda from April 5 to 9.

The first innings century-maker, Parida, played yet another innings of a character while all-rounder Mullick lent him crucial support as Orissa reached the target, losing only three wickets in 64.2 overs. Parida, who made 162 in the first essay, came up with an unbeaten 64 while a more aggressive Mullick played a strokeful knock of 74.

Having conceded a 42-run first-innings lead, Madhya Pradesh's overnight batsmen, Ankit Srivastava (25) and skipper Chandrakant Pandit (50), went about smashing every ball early in the morning in an attempt to post a challenging total.

Ankit was sent packing by Mullick and Pandit was out when trying to accelerate the run-rate. Pandit made the declaration after Rajesh Chauhan also fell. Orissa could have sat on its lead, but it did not. Not even against a set of experienced spinners on a fifth-day pitch. Full marks to Parida and Mullick.

Pandit and the whole MP team may have hoped that leg- spinner Hirwani might come up with the old magic, supported by the off- spin of Rajesh Chauhan. In the event both failed to make an impact after the spinners came on at either end from the very start of the Orissa innings.

Orissa was over-cautious at the start. Suresh Kumar and Pradip Das played defensively for some time when the runs came in ones and twos. The MP fielders, frustration creeping in by the minute, appealed every time the ball struck the pads. There were times when the tense batsmen refused obvious singles.

Chauhan removed Pradip Das, caught by J.P. Yadav at silly point with 24 runs on the board. In the next over, Hirwani claimed Suresh Kumar. The fall of two quick wickets brought Parida and captain Sanjay Raul together, and though the latter made just 14 it was he who helped ease the tension with some fine strokes.

Hirwani had Raul snapped up in the close-cordon and at 52 for three, Orissa had 38.5 overs to either stick it out or go for an outright win. Mullick and Parida decided that the latter option was the best.

Mullick was more enterprising and he went after Hirwani, clobbering him for a four and a six off successive balls. While the odd ball kept low, there was not much turn that Hirwani and Chauhan could extract from the pitch. Once the 100- run mark was crossed, the rest was a formality as Orissa cruised to the target.

The win was Orissa's fifth successive outright effort of the season. The return of Test player Shiv Sunder Das and Debashish Mohanty for the semifinals should further bolster the team.

``It was a team effort and we won a match after a good contest,'' Raul said later. ``I had confidence in my batsmen though the chase was a difficult one specially on the fifth day,'' he added.

The scores:

MP-1st innings: 437

Orissa-1st innings: 479

MP-2nd innings: Amay Khurasiya lbw b Mullick 18, Naman Ojha c J. Das b Mullick 10, Devender Bundela c Raul b Barick 14, Abbas Ali lbw b Raul 37, J.P. Yadav b Pradip Das 46, Harvinder Singh Sodhi c Mullick b Raul 4, Ankit Srivastava c Jagannath Das b Mullick 25, Chandrakant Pandit st. Gautam b Jagannath Das 50, Rajesh Chauhan c Pradip Das b Satpathy 9, Yogesh Golwalkar (not out) 1, Extras (b-2, lb-4, nb-2, w-11) 19, Total (for nine wickets decl.) 233.

Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-42, 3-51, 4-132, 5-140, 6- 140, 7-203, 8-230, 9-233.

Orissa bowling: Ajay Barick 13-2-65-1, Pravanjan Mullick 14-1-63- 3, Sanjay Satpathy 8.2-0-31-1, Jagannath Das 5-0-24-0, Sanjay Raul 9-0-33-2, Pradip Das 4-0-11- 1.

Orissa-2nd innings: Suresh Kumar c Srivastava b Hirwani 9, Pradip Das c J.P. Yadav b Chauhan 10, Rashmi Ranjan Parida (not out) 64, Sanjay Raul c J.P. Yadav b Hirwani 14, Pravanjan Mullick (not out) 74, Extras (b-10, lb-5, nb-6) 21, Total (for three wickets) 192.

Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-26, 3-52.

MP bowling: Rajesh Chauhan 21-4-48-1, Narendra Hirwani 20-8-50-2, Abbas Ali 6-0-24-0, Yogesh Golwalkar 11.2-4-23-0, Harvinder Singh Sodhi 5-0-25-0, Devender Bundela 1-0-7-0.

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