8216;Double8217; Natraj Behera denies Mumbai full points

At stumps on Day Four,Orissa were 356 for five after resuming at 115 for two.

Natraj Beheras fighting hundred denied heavyweights Mumbai full points though the hosts were favourites to beat Orissa in this Group A game. The draw leaves defending champions in a spot of bother going into final two games of the group stage.

Forced to follow on,Behera who had scored an aggressive 130 in the first innings led Orissas march in the second innings,scoring an unbeaten 127,helping his side avoid a heavy defeat at Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday. At stumps on Day Four,Orissa were 356 for five after resuming at 115 for two.

Mumbai secured three points from this match for a total of 23 from six games,but have slipped a place from atop the table. Their next match will be against the table-toppers Karnataka in Bangalore followed by another away game against Gujarat,who too are in contention for a quarterfinal berth.

The task will be made tougher for an inexperienced Mumbai team thanks to the absence of Dhawal Kulkarni and Abhishek Nayar.

Mumbai skipper Wasim Jaffer insisted there was no reason to panic yet and said his team would aim to get the first innings lead in the match against Karnataka. We have a very young and inexperienced side,so Im very happy with the way we have performed, he said. Now our aim for the next to game is to get at least the first innings lead.

Inexperienced bowling coupled by a lax fielding cost Mumbai dear. At the start of the day,Mumbai would have hoped for a repeat of previous days performance,when the bowlers dismissed the visiting sides batsmen cheaply. However,they failed miserably.

Debutant Pravin Tambe was unable to pick up any wickets on the day after dismissing Orissas second innings openers on Monday. The home teams leading wicket-taker Vishal Dabholkar too could not make his presence felt nor could medium-pacer Javed Khan,who had picked up four wickets in the first innings.

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While the Mumbai bowlers struggled to replicate their form,Behera carried on from where he left in the first innings. The Rourkela-born born batsman singe-handedly defied the Mumbai bowlers. Behera stated that his colleagues were privileged to play on such a good pitch and at times got carried away and got out to rash shots.

He patiently built his innings but did not shy away from attempting to clear the ropes when gifted loose deliveries,hitting five sixes over his two innings. Barring the single moment where,on 61,he was dropped at first slip by Jaffer off a Pravin Tamble delivery,Behera remained unperturbed by the Mumbai bowling attack that had dismissed his side,chasing 501,for 256 in the first innings.

Naturally,Odisha coach Debhashish Mohanty was ecstatic with his teams strong fight-back in the second innings. Im very happy with the way the team fought back in the second innings and held on for the draw, Mohanty said.

Brief scores: Mumbai 501/9 decl. drew with Odisha 256 all out and 356/5 Natraj Behera 127,Niranjan Behera 59; Pravin Tambe 2/127