Bowlers lead Orissa`s fightback against Punjab

Mohali: Orissa seamers struck at regular intervals to help their team stage a fightback and reduce Punjab to 255 for nine on day two of their Group A Ranji Trophy Elite division match on Friday.

Bundled out for 251 in their first innings, Basant Mohanty and Lagnajit Samal led Orissa`s stunning fightback, picking up three wickets each. Punjab`s last-man and debutant Brainder Sarn did not bat, forcing skipper Harbhajan Singh to declare the innings in the 79th over. The hosts were yet to open their account after facing just one over in the second innings. Earlier, resuming at 246 for nine, Orissa could add just five runs as Sandeep Sharma cleaned up Alok Mangaraj to finish with five for 53. But Orissa fought back strongly reducing Punjab to 26 for three by the 11th over at the PCA stadium. Uday Kaul (62) and Mayank Sidhana (30) steadied the innings with a valuable half-century stand for the fourth wicket before Bikas Pati ran the latter out with the scoreboard reading 94. Kaul struck eight boundaries during his 185-minute stay at the crease and faced 116 balls. Coming down the order at the fall of Harbhajan`s wicket, Gitansh Khera struck 47 valuable runs and, along with Karan Goel (36), added 45 runs for the seventh wicket. Khera found the fence six times, stayed for 155 minutes and faced 107 deliveries. Sandeep, who came in at number 10, contributed 23 off 41 balls to help the hosts go past Orissa`s first-innings total. Brief scores: Orissa: 251 all out and 85.4 overs (Mohanty 60 not out, Sahoo 56, Behera 47; Sharma 5/53, Sran 3/66) and O for no loss. Punjab: 255 for nine decl (Kaul 62, Khera 47; Samal 3/36, Mohanty 3/76). PTI