Ranji Trophy: Odisha shot out for 143, Delhi 62/3

New Delhi, Nov 9 (IANS) Delhi gained a slight advantage in their first Ranji Trophy Group B home tie after they bowled out Odisha for 143 before tea and ended day one at 62 for three here Friday.

Mithun Manhas (12) and Manan Sharma (1) were at the crease when bad light stopped the play.

Odisha, electing to bat first, were stranded at 83/5 at lunch as their top order crashed.

Parwinder Awana and Pawan Suyal rattled the Odisha, taking four wickets and forcing skipper Nataraj Behera (35) back to retire hurt.

The 23-year-old Suyal, playing his 10th first class game, finished with figures of 3/43 from 14 overs.

With Odisha reeling at 62/5, wicketkeeper-batsman Halhadar Das (27) and Deepak Behera (28) managed a crucial 51-run partnership which took the score par-100.

Making his debut, 21-year-old Manan Sharma proved to be the star of the day as he got into the lower order of the innings, picking up four wickets in 8.1 overs.

A left-arm orthodox spinner, Manan is the son of former India cricketer and Delhi captain Ajay Sharma, who was banned by the Indian cricket board along with Mohammad Azharuddin in 2000.

Coming out to bat for for Delhi, Under-19 star Unmukt Chand (3) once again failed to make an impact. The stylish batsman only lasted 15 minutes at the crease.

Skipper Shikhar Dhawan was batting well before he nudged a bouncer by Basanta Mohanty and was caught at third slip for 22.

Delhi trail Odisha by 81 runs with three days of cricket to be played.

IANS 2012-11-09 19:10:04