Bhubaneswar: The experienced Govinda Poddar rose to the occasion to give Odisha a fighting chance in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match against Himachal Pradesh at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in Nadaun.
The 31-year-old Poddar hit his seventh century to pull Odisha out of a hole in the second innings.
Having conceded a 67-run first-innings lead, Odisha were in the doldrums as they limped to 120/5 in the second innings just after lunch on Day 3.
Poddar then found two able partners in Prayash Singh (73) and Suryakant Pradhan (50 not out) to help Odisha post an impressive 374 and build a lead of 307 runs.
It set up an intriguing final day, with Himachal needing 308 runs and Odisha 10 wickets for a much-needed outright victory.
Poddar first added 119 runs with Prayash for the sixth wicket at a brisk rate. After Sujit Lenka fell for 15, Suryakant came in and played his strokes freely to race to 50 in 37 balls, with 2 fours and 4 sixes.
Suryakant ran out of partners, with Poddar being run out for a well-compiled 135, which came in 176 deliveries and included 17 boundaries, and Nos 10 (Basant Mohanty) and 11 (Sunil Roul) managing a solitary run between them.
Brief scores: Odisha 191 & 374 (Govinda Poddar 135, Prayash Singh 73, Suryakant Pradhan 50*; Vinay Galetiya 2/58). Himachal Pradesh 258.
Match to continue.
