Das, Raul hit double tons in draw game vs Bengal

Odisha opener Shiv Sundar Das and captain Sanjay Raul hit career-best knocks of 253 and 210 respectively against Bengal to steal the show in their four-day Ranji Trophy East Zone match, which, however, ended in a high-scoring draw on the last day at Baripada Stadium in Baripada today.

Teams settled with three points each as first-innings of both the sides could not be completed. Opting to bat after Raul won the toss, host Orissa sent the opposition on leather hunt before declaring their first-innings at 671 for six.

Both Das and Raul registered respective first double century in first-class matches. Das hit 33 boundaries and six sixes in his 464-ball majestic knock, while the 412-ball knock of Raul featured 31 fours and one six. The duo set up a memorable record by stitching together a third-wicket partnership of 436 runs.

This was the highest partnership for any wicket by Orissa in first-class cricket, surpassing the previous highest of 358 for the fourth wicket between Rashmi Ranjan Parida and Pravanjan Mullick against Jammu & Kashmir in their Ranji Trophy pre-quarterfinal match, held at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack from 11 to 14 March, 2001.

Pravanjan Mullick compounded the plight of Bengal bowlers, cracking an unbeaten 80. While Das passed 5500 runs in first-class matches, Raul and Mullick crossed 4000 and 3000 runs respectively.

Bengal managed to draw the match, thanks to a century by wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta (137) and a half-century by Rohan Gavaskar (52). Among Orissa bowlers, Ajay Barik and Bipin Singh picked up two wickets each.

SCORECARD (Orissa Match No 185):

ORISSA (1st innings): BBCC Mohapatra c Sanyal b Bose 0, Shiv Sundar Das run out (SG Das) 253, Rashmi Ranjan Parida lbw Sanyal 28, *Sanjay Raul c AS Das b Lahiri 210, Pravanjan Mullick not out 80, P Jayachandra lbw Shukla 30, +Gautam Gopal b Chatterjee 31, Sanjay Satpathy not out 3, Debasis Mohanty DNB, Ajay Barik DNB, Bipin Singh DNB; Extras (b-8, lb-15, nb-10, w-3) 36
Total (6 wickets, declared, 203 overs) 671
Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Mohapatra), 2-58 (Parida), 3-494 (Raul), 4-522 (Das), 5-585 (Jayachandra), 6-651 (Gopal)
Bengal bowling: Bose 27-9-80-1, Shukla 39-10-122-1, Sanyal 25-4-82-1, Lahiri 35-5-146-1, Chatterjee 44-11-122-1, Gavaskar 31-6-91-0, Haldipur 2-0-5-0.

BENGAL (1st innings): NL Haldipur c Raul b Satpathy 28, +DB Dasgupta b Raul 137, AS Das lbw Bipin Singh 5, *RS Gavaskar c Gopal b Barik 52, DJ Gandhi c Mullick b Barik 8, SG Das lbw Bipin Singh 38, SC Sanyal not out 38, US Chatterjee not out 21, RR Bose DNB, LR Shukla DNB, SS Lahiri DNB; Extras (b-9, lb-5, nb-21, w-1) 36
Total (6 wickets, 143 overs) 363
Fall of wickets: 1-43 (Haldipur), 2-57 (AS Das), 3-195 (Gavaskar), 4-205 (Gandhi), 5-278 (SG Das), 6-315 (Dasgupta)
Orissa bowling: Mohanty 29-13-49-0, Barik 24-8-63-2, Satpathy 40-10-99-1, Bipin Singh 17-7-48-2, Raul 18-3-48-1, Jayachandra 7-1-19-0, Mullick 5-1-11-0, Mohapatra 1-0-5-0, Parida 2-0-7-0.
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PHOTO: Undated file photo of Orissa duo Shiv Sundar Das and Sanjay Raul.