Cuttack: After a below-par Day 1, Odisha fought back with great gusto on Friday to leave their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A fixture against Services on an even keel.
On a bowler-friendly track at DRIEMS ground here, the home team’s pacers bowled out the visitors for 199, thereby restricting their first-innings lead to just 19 runs.
The Odisha batters then applied themselves well to reach 166/3 at stumps on the second day. With an overall lead of 147 and two days remaining, Odisha will hope to maintain their ascendancy and sign off the 2024-25 campaign with an outright victory.
Teenaged wicketkeeper-batter Aashirwad Swain, promoted to open the innings, showed good temperament and the willingness to occupy the crease. Like in the first innings, when he stuck around amidst a flurry of wickets, Swain blunted the Services attack with solid defence. He put on 61 with fellow-opener Swastik Samal (37), 38 with skipper Sandeep Pattanaik (20) and 45 with senior pro Govinda Poddar (29).
Swain notched up his third first-class half century and remained unbeaten on a career-best 63 (150 balls, 5×4). Keeping him company is another wicketkeeper-batter Rajesh Dhuper, on 10.
Services resumed on 85/2 on the second morning and reached 118/3 before Rajesh Mohanty (5/68) wreaked havoc. The 24-year-old medium-pacer, who rescued Odisha on Thursday with a top score of 60, ran through the middle and lower orders as Services lost six wickets for 80 runs, with Mohanty bagging five of those. It was his eighth five-wicket haul in 29 first-class games.
Fellow-quicks Tapas Das (3) and Sunil Roul (2) chipped in handily to complete the demolition job.
One man stood like a rock in the Services innings, No. 3 batter Ravi Chauhan who was the last man out for a heroic 120. He alone made 60% of the team’s tally, while Nos 4 to 10 contributed 36 runs.
Brief Scores
Odisha first innings: 180
Services first innings: 199 (Ravi Chauhan 120; Rajesh Mohanty 5/68, Tapas Das 3/57, Sunil Roul 2/57)
Odisha second innings: 166/3 (Aashirwad Swain 63 batting, Swastik Samal 37).
Match to continue on Day 3.
