Bhubaneswar: Anil Parida was like a one-man army up against a hungry Tamil Nadu team which had scented blood.
In the end, Parida’s heroic effort was not enough as Odisha failed to salvage a draw in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A fixture against Tamil Nadu, with the visitors winning by 207 runs.
Needing to survive the final day after resuming at 47/2, chasing an improbable victory target of 455 runs, Odisha folded up for 247 in the final session.
Subhranshu Senapati (55) was run out after an hour’s play, bringing together Parida and Govinda Poddar. As long as the fourth-wicket pair was at the crease, Odisha had hopes of survival. But once Poddar was castled by P Vidyuth, the floodgates opened.
Parida could only watch as wickets kept tumbling at the other end. The 24-year-old then found an ally in No. 10 Rajesh Mohanty. The ninth-wicket pair stuck together for 16 overs before Parida’s lionhearted resistance ended, two runs short of a second century.
Parida (98) batted for 220 balls, more than the combined effort of five other top order batters.
Like in the first innings, he was the team’s top scorer, but there was not enough support at the other end.
BRIEF SCORES
Tamil Nadu first innings: 286
Odisha first innings: 148
Tamil Nadu second innings: 316 (Athish SR 88, Sonu Yadav 74; Badal Biswal 3/56, Biplab Samantray 2/22, Sambit Baral 2/61).
Odisha second innings: 247 (Anil Parida 98, Subhranshu Senapati 55, Rajesh Mohanty 30*; Nidhish Rajagopal 2/9, Sonu Yadav 2/39).
Result: TN beat Odisha by 207 runs.
Points: TN 6, Odisha 0.
Elite Group A standings: Odisha 7th (7 points from 6 games), TN 6th (11 from 6).
Next match: Odisha vs Jharkhand, from Jan 29 (Jamshedpur).
