Bhubaneswar: Skipper Govinda Poddar called correctly during the toss of coin on Saturday morning at Vadodara’s Kotambi Stadium, and had no hesitation in opting for first strike.
However, the rest of the opening day of Odisha’s Ranji Trophy fixture against Baroda didn’t go well.
Young off-spinner Mahesh Pithiya bagged five wickets, while veteran left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt and left-arm seamer Akash Singh claimed two apiece to bowl out Odisha for 193.
In reply, Baroda were 50/1 when stumps were drawn on Saturday. On a pitch aiding the slower bowlers, part-time offie Poddar surprised many by sharing the new ball with Suryakant Pradhan and struck with his third delivery, having Jyotsnil Singh caught behind by Aashirwad Swain.
Fellow-opener Shivalik Sharma and Shaswat Rawat negotiated the rest remaining 20 overs without any more damage to push Odisha to the backfoot.
The Odisha innings got off on a dismal note as Anurag Sarangi fell for 3 in the fifth over to seamer Akash. Shantanu Mishra (23), the other opener, and Sandeep Pattanaik (9) tried to stitch a partnership but struggled to get the scoreboard moving as the spinners kept them under check.
Shantanu, Sandeep and Poddar fell to the spinners in a span of 11 runs. When Akash sent back Kartik Biswal for 16, Odisha were down to 73/5.
Biplab Samantaray and Aashirwad Swain put their heads down to build the only meaningful partnership of the Odisha innings – 72 runs for the sixth wicket.
The experienced Samantray (58) scored his 24th first-class half-century, while teenaged wicketkeeper-batter Swain made a strokeful 37 with seven boundaries.
Brief Scores
Odisha 1st innings: 193 all out in 65 overs (Biplab Samantray 58, Aashirwad Swain 37; Mahesh Pithiya 5/61).
Baroda 1st innings: 50/1 in 22 overs (Shivalik Sharma batting 28; Govinda Poddar 1/15).
Match to continue on Day 2.