Hirwani's late strikes has Orissa struggling

Former Indian leg spinner Narendra Hirwani struck twice late in the day to leave Orissa struggling at stumps on the second day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Madhya Pradesh at the Captain Roop Singh stadium in Gwalior on Friday. Replying to the Madhya Pradesh total of 437, Orissa were 110 for three at close of play.

Orissa lost Pradip Das early. The opener was leg before to HS Sodhi for ten in the seventh over when the score was 13. But the other opener Suresh Kumar and Rashmi Parida then added 89 runs for the second wicket off 26.3 overs and Orissa were sailing along smoothly at 102 for one. Then in successive overs, Hirwani struck. First, he had Suresh Kumar caught by another former Indian spin bowler Rajesh Chauhan for 35. Suresh Kumar faced 98 balls and hit five of them to the ropes. In the following over, the same combination struck to get rid of Sanjay Satpathy for a duck. Skipper Sanjay Raul then joined Parida and the two played carefully still stumps. Parida at close was batting with 47. He has so far faced 96 balls and hit six fours. Hirwani in four overs has so far taken two for 14.

Earlier, the hosts resuming at 320 for six, did well to get to 437. The tail wagged to prolong Orissa's stay in the field. After overnight batsmen, skipper Chandrakant Pandit (28) and AS Srivastava (29) fell quickly, Rajesh Chauhan (36) and Y Golwalkar (41 not out) added 74 runs for the ninth wicket off 31.3 overs. While Chauhan faced 90 balls and hit six of them to the fence, Golwalkar faced 135 balls and hit five fours.