Seamers do their job; Orissa bundled out

It was once again the four seamers operating for Maharashtra, who cornered nine wickets in all to halt the visitors’ innings 30 minutes after tea. Host skipper Bhave’s gamble of using his bowlers in short spells paid off and it was the lanky Milind Kulkarni who gained maximum success as he picked up four wickets.

Sachin Nair struck in the very first over, repeating his performance in the previous match at the Nehru Stadium. The home ground obviously seems to be a big asset for him. After striking on the third ball of the first over, he rounded up his assault scalping two more wickets to finish with an impressive analysis of 17-3-65-3.

On the other hand, the first change strike bowler Iqbal Siddiqui was overstepping at least once in each over for the first five overs. However, he made amends by rattling the stumps of opener Prashant Jayachandran in his sixth over.

Debutant Mahinder Godbole, who was introduced in the 14th over, failed to make any impact in his two bowling spells. Sachin Nair’s victim in the first over was Orissa’s consistent run getter SS Das. Das knew very little of the ball which rose at a good length and took him by surprise. He edged it to Surendra Bhave who took a comfortable catch at first slip.

The hosts too had a shaky start, but fortunately for them, openers Niranjan Godbole and Surendra Bhave held on to the crease despite the ball beating them on many ocassions. It took them three overs to open the team’s account off a leg bye, when Bhave padded Debashish Mohanty into the vacant mid-on position for a single.

Newcomer Niranjan Godbole recovered from a shaky start and confidently punched Ajay Barik to the long on fence. At the other end, however, Bhave, who was just five runs short of his 6000 mark in Ranji, preferred to play cautiously. It took him 27 deliveries before he opened his account with a cover drive off Ajay Barik to the fence. From there onwards he played a steady innings to survive at the wicket for 83 minutes before stumps were drawn.

There were anxious moments for the host’s fielders as they let some good opportunities go by. On one such ocassion, Jaideep Narse was late in responding to a ball which passed him to the third man fence.

After some initial resistance from Jayachandra and Muliick for the second wicket (the duo put on 62 runs), there was a bleak response from the other batsmen. But for some lusty hitting by Saheed Khan who remained not out on 35, Orissa would not have crossed the 200-mark. Saheed Khan was very harsh with seamer Iqbal Siddiqui, belting him for two consecutive fours and then went on to hit him over the fine-leg fence for a six.

Scoreboard
Shiv Sunder Das c S Bhave b S Nair (3m, 4b, 1×4) 4; P Jayachandran b I Siddiqui (98m, 56b, 3×4) 17; P Mullick c S Khondalkar b m Kulkarni (102m, 67b, 5×4) 38; Sanjay Raul c S Khondalkar b S Godbole (91m, 56b, 3×4) 45; Rashmi Ranjan Parida c S Khondalkar b M Kulkarni (28m, 21b, 1×4) 9; Pradeep Das c S Khondalkar b M Kulkarni (130m, 75b, 2×4) 21; Prashant Mahapatra lbw b S Nair (107m, 72b, 2×4) 43; Gautam Gopal b S Nair (13m, 5b, 1×4) 4; Debashish Mohanty c S Sugwekar b M Kulkarni (42m, 29b, 2×4) 8; Saheed Khan not out (33m, 32b, 6×4 1×6) 35; Ajay Barik run out (8m) 0. Extras: (1b, 6lb, 2w, 12 nb) 21.
Total: all out in 70.5 overs 245.
Fall of wickets: 1/5, 2/67, 3/67, 4/80, 5/134, 6/184, 7/195, 8/207, 9/231.
Bowling: Sachin Nair 17-3-65-3 (1w, 6nb), Milind Kulkarni 21.5-7-44-4, Iqbal Siddiqui 18-4-78-1 (1w, 6 nb), Siddharth Godbole 6-2-22-1, Mahendra Godbole 7-1-29-0.

Maharashtra, 1st innings: Surendra Bhave batting (83m, 60b, 2×4) 14; Niranjan Godbole c G Gopal b D Mohanty (74m, 49b, 2×4) 15; Iqbal Siddiqui batting (8m, 3b) 0.
Extras: (lb2, nb 4) 6.
Total: (18 overs 83 minutes) 35 for one
Fall of wicket: 1/34.
Bowling: Debashish Mohanty 8-4-14-1, Ajay Barik 5-1-10-0 (3 nb), Peninti Jayachandran 2-0-3-0 (1 nb), Saheed Khan 3-1-6-0.