Orissa bow to Punjab in Ranji Trophy quarters

Impressive performance by pace ace Debasis Mohanty and in-form batsman Pravanjan Mullick went in vain as Orissa went down to Punjab by 243 runs on the last day of their five-day Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali today. With this defeat a 15-match unbeaten run for Orissa came to an end.

This was overall 69th loss in a total of 187 Ranji Trophy matches for Orissa and their first loss in three matches against Punjab. The two teams were evenly matched in the first innings with host Punjab making 207 after being put into bat by Orissa captain Shiv Sundar Das while Orissa replied with 205.

It was second-innings performance which made all the difference between the victor and the vanquished. Punjab clinched victory by compiling an imposing total of 460, while Orissa folded up for 219. But amidst the defeat, Mohanty and Mullick warmed many hearts with individual brilliance.

Mohanty bagged four wickets in each innings, conceding a total of 132 runs, while Mullick slammed 99 in the first innings and 72 in the second. Mullick, in the process, passed 3000 runs in Ranji Trophy matches.

SCORECARD (Orissa Match No 187):

PUNJAB (1st innings): M Sharma c Raul b Satpathy 99, RS Ricky b Barik 5, A Kakkar lbw Bipin Singh 5, Yuvraj Singh c Gopal b Mohanty 19, D Mongia c Gopal b Mohanty 0, *+P Dharmani b Barik 41, Navdeep Singh c Mohapatra b Satpathy 3, Harbhajan Singh run out (Mullick) 10, I Malhotra lbw Mohanty 0, VK Sharma c Jayachandra b Mohanty 0, H Puri not out 0; Extras (lb-13, nb-11, w-1) 25
Total (all out, 268 minutes, 58.2 overs) 207
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Ricky, 7.3 ov), 2-43 (Kakkar, 14.3 ov), 3-81 (Yuvraj Singh, 21.1 ov), 4-83 (Mongia, 21.6 ov), 5-166 (Dharmani, 45.4 ov), 6-196 (M Sharma, 54.5 ov), 7-201 (Navdeep Singh, 56.6 ov), 8-202 (Malhotra, 57.2 ov), 9-202 (VK Sharma, 57.5 ov), 10-207 (Harbhajan Singh, 58.2 ov)
Orissa bowling: Mohanty 16-5-35-4, Barik 15-1-53-2, Bipin Singh 15-4-69-1, Satpathy 12.2-4-37-2.

ORISSA (1st innings): BBCC Mohapatra c Puri b VK Sharma 8, *Shiv Sundar Das b VK Sharma 10, Rashmi Ranjan Parida c Dharmani b VK Sharma 16, Sanjay Raul c Kakkar b Harbhajan Singh 23, Pravanjan Mullick c Ricky b VK Sharma 99, P Jayachandra c Yuvraj Singh b Harbhajan Singh 8, +Gautam Gopal lbw Harbhajan Singh 4, Sanjay Satpathy b Harbhajan Singh 1, Debasis Mohanty c Dharmani b VK Sharma 4, Bipin Singh not out 0, Ajay Barik b VK Sharma 0; Extras (b-10, lb-1, nb-16, penalty-5) 32
Total (all out, 326 minutes, 64.4 overs) 205
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Mohapatra, 2.4 ov), 2-40 (Das, 6.1 ov), 3-49 (Parida, 10.1 ov), 4-118 (Raul, 27.2 ov), 5-133 (Jayachandra, 31.3 ov), 6-139 (Gopal, 33.5 ov), 7-148 (Satpathy, 35.1 ov), 8-197 (Mohanty, 60.6 ov), 9-200 (Mullick, 64.3 ov), 10-205 (Barik, 64.4 ov)
Punjab bowling: VK Sharma 24.4-5-59-6, Malhotra 6-0-38-0, Puri 11-0-47-0, Harbhajan Singh 18-4-39-4, Navdeep Singh 5-1-6-0.

PUNJAB (2nd innings): M Sharma c Parida b Mohanty 73, RS Ricky c Mullick b Bipin Singh 9, Yuvraj Singh c Gopal b Mohanty 50, *+P Dharmani c Mohapatra b Jayachandra 41, D Mongia c Mullick b Raul 51, A Kakkar c Gopal b Barik 78, Navdeep Singh lbw Mohanty 12, Harbhajan Singh lbw Mohanty 43, I Malhotra c Raul b Barik 13, VK Sharma c Mohanty b Raul 47, H Puri not out 6; Extras (b-1, lb-11, nb-25) 37
Total (all out, 691 minutes, 143 overs) 460
Fall of wickets: 1-49 (Ricky, 14.5 ov), 2-129 (M Sharma, 35.6 ov), 3-153 (Yuvraj Singh, 44.3 ov), 4-242 (Dharmani, 66.4 ov), 5-242 (Mongia, 67.3 ov), 6-278 (Navdeep Singh, 87.1 ov), 7-359 (Harbhajan Singh, 109.1 ov), 8-381 (Malhotra, 116.4 ov), 9-441 (VK Sharma, 130.2 ov), 10-460 (Kakkar, 143 ov)
Orissa bowling: Mohanty 37-12-97-4, Barik 23-3-98-2, Bipin Singh 21-4-61-1, Satpathy 19-6-70-0, Jayachandra 21-3-76-1, Raul 22-6-46-2.

ORISSA (2nd innings): BBCC Mohapatra c Dharmani b VK Sharma 44, *SS Das c Ricky b Harbhajan Singh 9, RR Parida c Dharmani b Puri 40, P Jayachandra c Malhotra b VK Sharma 5, PM Mullick c sub (SK Sanwal) b Navdeep Singh 72, SS Raul lbw Navdeep Singh 4, +G Gopal lbw Navdeep Singh 31, SK Satpathy c Harbhajan Singh b Navdeep Singh 0, Bipin Singh c VK Sharma b Navdeep Singh 0, DS Mohanty c sub (SK Sanwal) b Harbhajan Singh 0, A Barik not out 1; Extras (lb-4, nb-8, w-1) 13
Total (all out, 223 minutes, 50.1 overs) 219
Fall of wickets: 1-35 (Das, 4.2 ov), 2-65 (Mohapatra, 9.3 ov), 3-79 (Jayachandra, 13.3 ov), 4-129 (Parida, 23.5 ov), 5-135 (Raul, 24.4 ov), 6-202 (Gopal, 38.2 ov), 7-202 (Satpathy, 38.4 ov), 8-208 (Bipin Singh, 40.2 ov), 9-216 (Mohanty, 43.1 ov), 10-219 (Mullick, 50.1 ov)
Punjab bowling: VK Sharma 8-1-42-2, Malhotra 2-0-23-0, Harbhajan Singh 18-4-67-2, Puri 10-1-47-1, Navdeep Singh 12.1-3-36-5.
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PHOTO: Undated file photo of Orissa batsman Pravanjan Mullick.