Ranji Trophy 2018: Odisha's losing streak continues

Bhubaneswar: Odisha once again failed to capitalise on a good start in a Ranji Elite Group C match against Rajasthan as the hosts suffered another defeat today.

Facing a dominant Rajasthan during the match played at Vikash Cricket Ground in Bhubaneswar, Odisha produced some good bowling performance but unfortunately lost the match by 35 runs due to poor battling in their second innings.

Thanks to a superb bowling performance by Basant Mohanty, Odisha had restricted the visitors to a modest score of 135 runs in the first innings. Mohanty claimed 6 wickets and conceded just 20 runs in his spell of 15 overs.

Despite the good start, Odisha was bundled out for 111 runs with AV Choudhary and TM Haq scalping five wickets each for Rajasthan.

In their second innings, Rajasthan suffered another innings collapse as Basant Mohanty sent half of the visitors back to the pavilion. Rajasthan team was all out for 148 runs giving Odisha a target of 172 runs.

Chasing the target, Odisha lost 3 wickets in quick succession with just 11 runs on the board. Suryakant Pradhan was the lone batsman to face the continuous onslaught of the Rajasthan bowlers and scored a quick 56 runs off just 33 deliveries.

Seven batsmen were back in the pavilion and failed to score runs in double digits. As a result, the entire Odisha team fell short of 35 runs.

Despite Odisha’s loss, Basant Mohanty was selected as the Man of the Match for his 11 wicket haul in both the innings.

Odisha has now lost back-to-back matches in the Ranji season this year. Despite a brilliant knock of 157 runs by Subhranshu Senapati, Odisha tasted defeat by just 2 runs in a nerve-wrecking encounter against Jharkhand last week.

It had drawn its first match against Haryana followed by a 10-wicket loss to Uttar Pradesh before winning a crucial match against Assam in Guwahati. In its fourth match Odisha thrashed Tripura by 5 wickets.

With 13 points from 6 matches, Odisha will now face Jammu & Kashmir at Government Gandhi Memorial Science College ground in Jammu on December 22.