Odisha have Colts on mat

Uthappa's unbeaten 223 shores up KSCA XI against Jharkhand

 Basant Mohanty and Suryakant Pradhan of the Odisha ripped through the KSCA Colts’ top order before a sixth-wicket partnership between KV Siddharth and skipper Abrar Kazi gave a touch of respectability to their innings on the first day of the four-day Safi Darashah tournament at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here on Wednesday.

Colts, at one stage, were tottering at 44 for five, and they were eventually bowled out for 204. They wouldn’t have gained even that speck of respectability but for a 122-run alliance between Siddharth 77 (176b, 13x4) and Kazi 52 (153b, 7x4). But Colts regained some of the lost initiative with the wicket of Odisha’s opener Rupak Jena just before stumps to leave the visitors at 16/1.

There were no surprises when Odisha elected to bowl with the overcast conditions promising assistance to the seamers.

Pradhan started the damage by removing opener Abhishek Reddy, one-down Sanjay Kumar as well as KN Bharath in an inspired spell of seam bowling. Reddy was caught at second slip, while both Kumar and Bharath gave catching practice to the stumper – Haladhar Das.

Bharath, who had seen the carnage unfurl from the non-striker’s end, was removed soon after by Mohanty who spreadeagled his stumps. Colts were reeling at 41/4 with thirty minutes still to go for lunch.

Dinesh Borwankar nudged around for a bit but he became Mohanty’s second scalp when he edged through to the wicketkeeper, reducing Colts to 44 for five.

Colts might have been excused for looking towards the heavens but conditions where causing all sorts of problems on a day when the sun just wouldn’t come out.

Kazi and Siddharth’s first task would have been to survive till lunch and they did just that. Kazi lofted left-arm spinner Jayant Behera for a couple of boundaries down the ground to ease the pressure.

Both Kazi and Siddharth went into a shell in the second session but their association remained unbeaten when the players trudged off for the tea break. Odisha were looking back at what could have been had they held on to the two catches; including a chance off the last ball before tea offered by Siddharth.

Kazi and Siddarth continued from where they left off in the final session, and things were looking upward for Colts but off-spinner Govind Podder accounted for Kazi and from that point Karnataka lost their last five wickets for 36 runs.

Uthappa dazzles

Robin Uthappa smashed a wonderful unbeaten 223 (276b, 25x4, 4x6) as KSCA XI raced to 393 for two in 94 overs against Jharkhand at Alur (1). KL Rahul made a patient 68 off 153 balls, while Manish Pandey is still at the crease on 51.


SCORE BOARD

KSCA Colts: Abhishek Reddy c Saragi b Pradhan 5, N Bharath b Mohanty 14, Sanjay Kumar c Das b Pradhan 10, KN Bharath c Das b Pradhan 8, Dinesh Borwankar c Samantray b Mohanty 7, KV Siddharth c Rout b Pradhan 77, Abrar Kazi c & b Podder 52, David Mathias c J Behera b Mohanty 4, Zeeshan Ali (not out) 16, Abhishek Bhatt lbw Jayant Behera 5, T Pradeep b J Behera 4. Extras (LB-1, NB-1) 2. Total (all out, 91.1 overs) 204.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-21, 3-29, 4-41, 5-44, 6-168, 7-179, 8-179, 9-198.

Bowling: Basant Mohanty 22-6-46-3, Suryakant Pradhan 22-8-50-4, Deepak Behera 21-10-36-0, Biplab Samantray 3-0-9-0, Jayant Behera 16.1-2-39-2, Govind Podder 7-1-23-1.

Odisha Cricket Association: Girija Raut (batting) 16, Rupak Jena c KN Bharath b Mathias 0. Total (for 1 wkt, 3.5 overs) 16.

Fall of wicket: 1-16.

Bowling: Abhishek Bhatt 2-0-11-0, David Mathias 1.5-0-5-1.

Other scores: In Alur (1): KSCA XI: 393/2 in 94 overs (Robin Uthappa 223 batting, KL Rahul 68, Manish Pandey 51 batting) vs Jharkhand Cricket Association.

In Alur (2): Cricket Association of Bengal: 262 all out in 79.4 overs (Saurashish Lahiti 59 n.o., Rohan Banarjee 47, Sandipas Das 40; Ronit More 3-57, Stalin Hoover 3-57, SK Moinuddin 2-54) vs KSCA President’s XI: 55/1 in 13 overs (R Samarth 30 batting).

In Alur (3): Haryana Cricket Association: 358/5 in 100.5 overs (Abhimanyu Kooda 80, Sunnay Singh 74, Prateek Panwar 61 batting; Chirag Jani 2-64, Damendra Jadeja 2-114) vs Saurashtra Cricket Asociation.

In BGS (T): Tripura Cricket Association 190 all out in 96.1 overs (Samrat Singha 56, Nirupam Sen Chohd 40; P Prashanth 3-12, N Niyas 3-41) vs Kerala Cricket Association.
In Aditya Global: Goa Cricket Asociation vs Rajasthan Cricket Association (rain washes out opening day’s play).

In SJCE: Assam Cricket Association: 182/5 in 75 overs (Rishav Das 89 batting, Parviz Aziz 58) vs Andhra Cricket Association.

In Gangothri Glades: KSCA Secretary’s XI: 135/6 in 68 overs (Gaurav Goel 51; Sonit Singh 2-16) vs Baroda Cricket Association.