Ranji Trophy: Odisha Struggle Against Jharkhand

Ranchi: Odisha struggled against Jharkhand in their first innings on the first day of the four-day Ranji Trophy match at JSCA International Stadium Complex here on Thursday.

The visitors were 27 for 3 wickets at stumps.

Earlier in the day, Odisha captain Biplab Samantray won the toss and put Jharkhand to bat. The hosts began their first innings disastrously as wickets fell at regular intervals. Both the opening bowlers, Basant Mohanty and Rajesh Mohanty, ran through their innings sharing eight wickets between them. While Basant scalped five wickets, his partner Rajesh claimed three.

After bundling out the hosts for 172, Odisha began their innings poorly as the quickie Varun Aaron claimed the wicket of Rajesh Dhuper (0) and Govinda Poddar (0) in quick succession while Subhransu Senapati was run out without scoring.

With the score at 7 for 3, Captain Biplab Samantray and opener Anurag Sarangi managed to hold on till the end of play.