Ranji Trophy: Odisha Steal Honours In Drawn Game After Enforcing Follow-On Vs MP; Shubhransu’s Match Tally 310 Runs

Bhubaneswar: Odisha stole the honours against Madhya Pradesh as their four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group D clash ended in a draw at Indore on Monday.

Having posted a massive first-innings total of 498, Odisha bowled out MP for 318 and asked the home team to follow on.

MP seemed to bat with a vengeance in the second innings. Not only did they easily avoid an innings defeat, MP raced to 291/4 in 59 overs before making a challenging declaration.

Chasing 112 runs for an outright win in just 10 overs, Odisha reached 38/1 after losing Anurag Sarangi in the first over.

Shubhransu Senapati, promoted to open after his career-best knock in the first innings, remained unbeaten on 33. He thus finished the match with a grand aggregate of 310 runs without being dismissed once.

Medium-pacer Roul was Odisha’s best bowler, finishing with six wickets in the match including 5/100 in first innings – his third five-wicket haul in four Ranji games.

Brief scores: Odisha 498 and 38/1 (Shubhransu Senapati 33 not out). Madhya Pradesh 318 (Harsh Gawali 167; Sunil Roul 5/100, Govinda Poddar 2/26, Prayash Singh 2/80) and (following on) 291/4 decl. (Himanshu Mantri 119, Yash Dubey 91, Shubham Sharma 48; Jayanta Behera 2/113, Govinda Poddar 1/21, Sunil Roul 1/25).

Result: Match drawn

Points: Odisha 3, MP 1

Elite Group D standings: Odisha in 5th place (3 pts), MP 4th (4 pts).

Odisha’s next match: Vs Jammu & Kashmir from Jan 19 at Cuttack.