Cuttack: The ploy of preparing a pacer-friendly pitch backfired once again on Odisha as the home team were skittled out for 138 in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group D match against Himachal Pradesh here on Friday.
Odisha’s first innings lasted just 51 overs at the DRIEMS ground. In reply, Himachal reached a solid 80/1 at stumps on Day 1.
Last week, Odisha had folded up for 130 in 47.2 overs against Jammu & Kashmir, and ultimately lost a low-scoring game by 2 wickets.
On both occasions, skipper Shantanu Mishra lost the toss and Odisha were asked to bat first by the rival teams.
Just like against J & K, Odisha batsmen failed to cope with medium-pacers on a track which offered them some assistance.
There was some resistance from previous-game centurion Sandeep Pattanaik, who made 20 off 48 balls. Teenaged wicketkeeper-batter Aashirwad Swain, playing only his second first-class game, also applied himself, emerging as top-scorer with an unbeaten 37 off 82 balls.
Odisha, reduced to 76/8 at one stage, staged a mini recovery thanks to a 45-run ninth-wicket partnership between Swain and pacer Rajesh Mohanty, who swung his bat around to collect 28 with the help of 6 fours.
All wickets fell to medium-pacers with the inexperienced Abhishek Kumar bagging 4 and seasoned campaigner Rishi Dhawan claiming 3.
Odisha have lost 2 of their 3 matches and earned just 3 points courtesy first-innings lead in a drawn game.
Brief scores: Odisha 138 all out in 51 overs (Aashirwad Swain 37 not out, Rajesh Mohanty 28; Abhishek Kumar 4/39, Rishi Dhawan 3/35, Vaibhav Arora 2/20). Himachal Pradesh 80/1 in 29 overs.
Match to continue on Day 2.
