Tangi (Cuttack), Feb 12: Odisha faced their third Ranji Trophy defeat this season on Monday at the DRIEMS Ground (Tangi), near here. The hosts lost to Uttarakhand by 162 runs.
Chasing a victory target of 377, Odisha were bundled out in their second innings for 214 in 91.4 overs.
Deepak Dhapola , the 33-year-old Uttarakhand pace spearhead, demonstrated a fine art of medium pace bowling. He grabbed 5 Odisha second innings wickets giving away only 74 runs in his marathon 23 overs toil.
Dhapola had a match to remember, as he also had a fine performance of 3/58 in Odisha's first innings. His 8 wickets heroics earned him the 'Player of the Match' award.
As far as Odisha's second innings batting was concerned, baring Subhrashu Senapati (61), no other batter could score a half century. The top order failed to withstand Uttarakhand bowlers and appeared to have lost the appetite to fight.
Interestingly, it was pacer Debabrata Pradhan, who was sent as a night watchman on Day 3, did showed some resistance on the final day first session. Debabrata put on scoreboard 37 runs in 75 balls and even hit four boundaries.
The tail-enders did try their best and a few of them even got starts. But they could not carry on for long. It was too little, too late to drag the match to a drawn result. Because by then, the visitors had already smelled victory and had tightened their grip on the match.
With only one group match in hand and with one victory so far, Odisha are out of race for the play-offs.
This year, Odisha have yet another forgettable Ranji season. In their six Ranji outings so far, they have registered only a single victory, lost three and managed a first innings lead on two occasions.
Before sharing honours with Puducherry at Barabati recently, they defeated Himachal Pradesh at DRIEMS Ground, here.
Prior to that, Odisha lost to Baroda by 147 runs in Vadodara, had drawn with Madhya Pradesh in Indore (enjoyed first innings lead though) and lost to Jammu and Kashmir in DRIEMS Ground, Cuttack by 2 wickets.
In their final match at home, they were handed a 162 runs defeat by Uttarakhand.
Odisha have 12 points from six outings and are at 7th place in Elite Group D standings.
ON the contrary, with a victory against Odisha, Uttarakhand now have 14 points from as many outings. They have moved to the 4th spot.
In Elite Group D, Madhya Pradesh with 26 and Baroda with 23 points are eyeing the top spot in the group.
Odisha will play Delhi in their final group match this season from February 16.
Brief scores:
Uttarakhand 342 and 203/8d;
Odisha 169 and 214.
Odisha lost by 162 runs.
Uttarakhand 6 points & Odisha 0.
Player of the Match: Deepak Dhapola.
