Berhampur, March 16: Wicketkeeper-batsman Manav Mehra grinned and frowned, appealed unsuccessfully for a runner, but managed to hang on and salvage a face-saving draw for Punjab in their last match of the Group-A Ranji Trophy Super League cricket match at the Berhampur Stadium on Monday.The spin trio of Sanjay Kumar Satpathy, Jagannath Dash and Shahid Khan had Punjab in woods at 82 for nine, but Mehra and last man Harbhajan Singh survived for 13 overs to thwart the home team a well-deserved win.
Punjab finished with 88 for nine, after being set an improbable target of 422 in a minimum of 52 overs.On a wicket that offered a little turn and, none of the Punjab batsmen showed either patience or application exceptRavneet Singh Richy playing only his second first class match held one end admirably. Punjab skipper Pankaj Dharmani, after the first innings disaster, had shuffled the batting order. But the changed order failed to change his team's fortunes as wickets fell like nine pins.
Earlier, Orissadeclared their second innings at 305 for six, after Rashmi Ranjan Parida failed to complete his century. The right-hander, who was 95 overnight, put himself under pressure. After scrambling for four singles, he drove Bharti Vij uppishly into the hands of Sandeep Sharma at mid-off.
Orissa finished the group with 11 points to take the third spot while Punjab with nine points finished fourth. But for weather, they could well have been relegated to the last place in the group, behind Railways.
SCOREBOARD
ORISSA (1st Innings): 261.
PUNJAB (1st Innings): 145.
ORISSA (2nd Innings): BBCC Mohapatra lbw b H Singh 19, Jayachandra lbw b A Kapoor 35, P Mallick lbw b B Vij 1, SS Das c & b Vij 131, RR Parida c S Sharma b Vij 99, R Morris c Bhushan b A Kapoor 2, P Das not out 5. Extras (lb 6, nb 3, w 4): 13; Total (for 6 wkts decl in 74.5 overs): 305
Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-54, 3/79, 4-290, 5-296, 6-305.
Bowling: S Sharma 9-1-35-0, Bhushan 4-2-13-0, Vij 22.5-1-92-3, A Kapoor16-3-70-2, H Singh 20-3-66-1, A Sharma 3-0-23-0
PUNJAB (2nd innings): S Sharma lbw b Morris 5, RS Richy c BBCC Mohapatra b SK Satpathy 34, P Dharmani b SK Satpathy 5, A Sharma b SK Satpathy 7, S Kaparia c Gopal b J Dash 14, HS Kakhu c P Das b S Khan 0, A Kapoor run out 2, M Mehra not out 11, B Vij lbw S Khan 0, B Bhushan c RR Parida b J Dash 0, H Singh not out 6. Extras (lb 4): 4. Total (for 9 wickets, 53 overs): 88.
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-11, 3-19, 4-50, 5-55, 6-58, 7-73, 8-74, 9-82.
Bowling: Morris 4-1-4-1, Jaychandra 2-0-8-0, Satpathy 18-8-25-3, S Khan 13-3-21-2, Das 16-7-28-2.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
