Parida rescues Orissa from jaws of defeat

Host Orissa survived many anxious moments to draw their four-day Ranji Trophy Plate Group-B match against Maharashra on the last day at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack today. However, Orissa secured two points by virtue of taking first-innings lead, while Maharashtra drew blank.

Rashmi Ranjan Parida turned out to be the saviour of Orissa, hitting a half-century in both the innings. Star bowler Debasis Mohanty, middle-order batsman Niranjan Behera and opener Subrat Behera also put up impressive performance for Orissa.

Opting to bat after skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar won the toss, Maharashtra were bundled out for 77. Debasis Mohanty destroyed the top order the opposition batting line-up, bagging five wickets for 24 runs. Sanjay Satpathy and Bipin Singh provided him good support, claiming three and two wickets respectively.

In reply, Orissa rode on a half-century each by Rashmi Parida (81, 177b, 13x4) and Niranjan Behera (62, 172b, 8x4) to compile a respectable total of 204. After conceding a lead of 127 runs, Maharashtra fought back to declare their second innings at 439 for eight. Dheeraj Jadhav (200 not out) and Kaushik Aphale (100) slammed an unbeaten double hundred and a hundred respectively for the visitors.

Chasing a daunting target of 318 runs for victory, Orissa were well placed at 102 for one in the second innings. But with the dismissal of Subrat Behera for 57, the home team started losing wickets at regular intervals to inch closer to defeat. But Parida saved the team from the jaws of the defeat, hitting an unbeaten 70 (171 balls, 8x4). When the match ended in draw, Orissa were 219 for nine.

SCORECARD (Orissa Match No 195):

MAHARASHTRA (1st innings): DS Jadhav c Sukhbinder Singh b Bipin Singh 2, NA Godbole lbw Mohanty 0, *HH Kanitkar lbw Mohanty 13, KD Aphale lbw Mohanty 1, SA Shah b Mohanty 27, RD Khirid c Mohanty b Bipin Singh 1, KR Khadkikar st Sukhbinder Singh b Satpathy 13, +SA Satbhai lbw Satpathy 0, IR Siddiqui c Mohanty b Satpathy 1, CP Kulkarni lbw Mohanty 0, KR Adhav not out 5; Extras (b-4, lb-3, nb-5, w-2) 14
Total (all out, 35.1 overs) 77
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Godbole, 0.6 ov), 2-9 (Jadhav, 7.5 ov), 3-12 (Aphale, 10.6 ov), 4-21 (Kanitkar, 12.2 ov), 5-22 (Khirid, 13.1 ov), 6-69 (Khadkikar, 27.4 ov), 7-70 (Satbhai, 29.2 ov), 8-70 (Shah, 30.1 ov), 9-70 (Kulkarni, 30.2 ov), 10-77 (Siddiqui, 35.1 ov)
Orissa bowling: Mohanty 13-3-24-5, Bipin Singh 12-4-32-2, Mullick 5-0-12-0, Mohapatra 2-0-2-0, Satpathy 3.1-3-0-3.

ORISSA (1st innings): BBCC Mohapatra c Kulkarni b Khirid 0, Subrat Behera lbw Siddiqui 2, Rashmi Ranjan Parida run out (Satbhai) 81, *Sanjay Raul lbw Siddiqui 1, Pravanjan Mullick lbw Khirid 20, Niranjan Behera not out 62, +Sukhbinder Singh b Siddiqui 0, Sanjay Satpathy c Satbhai b Siddiqui 1, Bipin Singh c Satbhai b Khirid 1, Debasis Mohanty c Satbhai b Khirid 8, Srikant Jena c Satbhai b Siddiqui 2; Extras (b-4, lb-5, nb-17) 26
Total (all out, 74.2 overs) 204
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (SD Behera, 0.5 ov), 2-6 (Mohapatra, 1.3 ov), 3-16 (Raul, 4.4 ov), 4-49 (Mullick, 13.5 ov), 5-162 (Parida, 53.3 ov), 6-168 (Sukhbinder Singh, 58.3 ov), 7-170 (Satpathy, 60.1 ov), 8-171 (Bipin Singh, 61.6 ov), 9-185 (Mohanty, 71.5 ov), 10-204 (Jena, 74.2 ov)
Maharashtra bowling: Siddiqui 20.2-4-65-5, Khirid 23-6-51-4, Kulkarni 8-1-29-0, Adhav 12-4-22-0, Khadkikar 7-2-12-0, Kanitkar 4-1-16-0.

MAHARASHTRA (2nd innings): DS Jadhav not out 200, NA Godbole c Raul b Satpathy 39, *HH Kanitkar c Sukhbinder Singh b Mohanty 11, KD Aphale lbw Raul 100, RD Khirid c Mullick b Jena 24, SA Shah run out (Parida) 11, KR Khadkikar c sub b Jena 6, +SA Satbhai c Jena b Raul 2, IR Siddiqui c SD Behera b Jena 13, CP Kulkarni not out 4, KR Adhav did not bat; Extras (b-7, lb-9, nb-5, w-8) 29
Total (8 wickets, declared, 146.1 overs) 439
Fall of wickets: 1-78 (Godbole, 29.2 ov), 2-101 (Kanitkar, 38.6 ov), 3-305 (Aphale, 119.2 ov), 4-359 (Khirid, 131.3 ov), 5-382 (Shah, 135.1 ov), 6-394 (Khadkikar, 137.4 ov), 7-397 (Satbhai, 138.2 ov), 8-425 (Siddiqui, 143.3 ov)
Orissa bowling: Mohanty 24-4-58-1, Bipin Singh 25-6-63-0, Satpathy 27-5-76-1, Mullick 15-0-48-0-1, Jena 31-5-94-3, Raul 21.1-2-67-2, NJ Behera 3-1-17-0.

ORISSA (2nd innings): BBCC Mohapatra c Khirid b Siddiqui 11, SD Behera b Adhav 57, NJ Behera c Satbhai b Siddiqui 27, RR Parida not out 70, *SS Raul lbw Kulkarni 27, PM Mullick lbw Adhav 4, +Sukhbinder Singh lbw Kulkarni 2, DS Mohanty lbw Kulkarni 0, SK Satpathy lbw Khirid 2, Bipin Singh lbw Khirid 2, S Jena not out 2; Extras (b-2, lb-1, nb-10, w-2) 15
Total (9 wickets, 96 overs) 219
Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Mohapatra, 8.5 ov), 2-102 (SD Behera, 41.4 ov), 3-104 (NJ Behera, 42.3 ov), 4-159 (Raul, 62.1 ov), 5-168 (Mullick, 65.6 ov), 6-180 (Sukhbinder Singh, 74.2 ov), 7-183 (Mohanty, 76.4 ov), 8-207 (Satpathy, 86.5 ov), 9-210 (Bipin Singh, 90.3 ov)
Maharashtra bowling: Siddiqui 20-3-42-2, Khirid 16-2-56-2, Adhav 35-12-72-2, Kulkarni 14-5-23-3, Khadkikar 11-1-23-0.

CLOSE OF PLAY:
Day-1: Orissa (1) 160/4 (Parida 81*, NJ Behera 32*; 52 overs)
Day-2: Maharashtra (2) 161/2 (Jadhav 81*, Aphale 17*; 63 overs)
Day-3: Orissa (2) 14/0 (Mohapatra 11*, SD Behera 3*; 6 overs)
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PHOTO: Undated file photo of Orissa batsman Rashmi Ranjan Parida.